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Paper Bag Octopus Craft
How to Make an Octopus Using a Paper Bag

By Sherri Osborn, About.com

Learn how you can make a large or small octopus by using a paper bag.

  • Age Guideline: 6 Years and Up
  • Time Required: 20 minutes (Does not include drying time)

The above age and time guidelines are estimates. This project can be modified to suit other ages and may take more or less time depending on your circumstances.

Materials Needed:

Instructions:
Paint the paper bag whatever color you want your octopus to be. Let it dry.

Once the paint is completely dry, ball up pieces of newspaper and put them in your bag. Make the bag about 1/4 of the way full. Gather the bag around the newspaper and shape the bottom so it looks more round than square. Wrap a piece of yarn around where you gathered the bag together and tie it shut. The rounded, bottom half of the bag will now be the octopus head.

Cut the top edges of the bag from the edge to where you tied to form the legs. Cut them so there is 8 strips. Round the edges a bit for a better effect. You can now set the octopus on the table and spread out the legs!

Use markers, crayons, or paint to draw on some facial features and you are done! You can make a large octopus using a paper grocery bag or a smaller paper bag and make a small octopus.

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