Make a simple & happy jumping jack bug toy with a paper roll, thread and cereal box! I love these traditional puppets. You don’t need anything but your imagination to draw a cute face and bring the little fellas to life. Pull down the string to make it fly!

Materials

• Printable template (download here)
• Cereal box
• Tissue paper roll
• Yarn needle
• Strong thread or string
• Paint & brush (or markers)
• Scissors
• Glue

Step 1
Draw two long “L”s on the paper roll as shown in the picture above. Cut with scissors.

Step 2
Fold the “L”s you cut inside the paper roll.

Step 3
Decorate your bug! Choose a bug and use the template to trace the wings, feelers, and bug-pull shapes onto the cereal box and then cut them out. Draw a smiley face on the paper roll and then paint & decorate everything (including the wings).

Step 4
Next, we’ll create the joints by piercing the paper roll and the wings on the dots marked with an “A.” Mark a dot and pin to make a hole on each of the paper roll folds (as pictured above). Pass a threaded needle, with a knot on the end of the thread, through one of the holes. Take the back of a wing and pass the threaded needle through the hole marked “A” on the template and tie off the tread. Do the same with the other wing as well.

Make sure the joints aren’t too tight so they are easily moveable!

Step 5
Connect the two wings by tying a thread between the holes marked “B” on the template, above the joints. Place the knot in the middle of the wings, making sure it’s pretty tight when the wings are hanging down. Leave one end of the thread longer to pull and test the mechanism.

Step 6
Tie the bug-pull shapes at the end of the thread and then make a loop at the top of the paper roll. To finish everything off, glue feelers on the top of your new jumping jack’s head.

Pull down the thread to make your bug fly.

Happy crafting!