Author:
Erin Greene

Erin Greene's love for all things crochet, bizarrely began in college with her career ending basketball injury, and her desire to remain productive and continue challenging herself. She is now the crochet artist and owner behind ekayg, in Buffalo, New York, specializing in designing unique toy patterns for babies and children, thanks to the constant inspiration from her four young children. Among the crochet patterns, and the occasional craft or recipe, she also blogs weekly, sharing her faith, in the hopes of sharing the love of Jesus with her love handmade goodness!

Bear and Panda Hand Puppets Crochet Pattern

Maker
11/3/2020

I am Erin of ekaygdesigns, and I am a yarn addict. I love making these hand puppets with The Hook Nook Yummy yarn!! It makes them so incredibly soft, and perfect for play. This bear and panda hand puppet design is a 2-in-1 pattern. You can make the brown bear or the panda, using the same pattern, just doing a couple things differently, as noted. Both are very simple to make, and make wonderful gifts for little ones, to spark creativity and encourage imaginative play!

Materials 

Get all the supplies to create these puppets in the shop here!

For Panda

THE HOOK NOOK, YUMMY: Like a Dove (A) - approximately 65 yds

THE HOOK NOOK, YUMMY: Charcoal Toothpaste (B) - approximately 20 yds

For Brown Bear

THE HOOK NOOK, YUMMY: Olive You (A) - approximately 80 yds

THE HOOK NOOK, YUMMY: Latte Foam (B) - approximately 6 yds

For both:

THE HOOK NOOK, SMALL STUFF: Tattoo Ink - for sewing of the eyes, nose, and mouth

THE HOOK NOOK crochet hook size H - (5mm)

THE HOOK NOOK stitch marker

THE HOOK NOOK large-eyed blunt needle

THE HOOK NOOK scissors  

Terms and abbreviations to know

rnd - round

st - stitch

sl st - slip stitch

ch - chain

sk - skip

sc - single crochet

hdc - half double crochet

dc - double crochet

inc - increase, 2 sc in same st

dec - decrease, join 2 sc sts into 1 st

BLO - back loop only

Invsc2tog - invisible single crochet 2 together; this is essentially a decrease, but done in such a way as to make the continuous stitching smoother, and the decrease not as noticeable. 

  1. Insert hook into front loop only of next stitch, DO NOT yarn over.
  2. Insert hook into front loop of second stitch. 
  3. Yarn over. Pull through 2 loops. 
  4. Yarn over and pull through last 2 loops.

Notes

The body is worked from the top down, in the rnd, with no joining. Use a stitch marker at the end of each rnd to count your rnds. The arms, ears, snout, and eyes, are made separately and sewn on. The nose and mouth are sewn on with black dk yarn. For making the brown bear, ignore the color changes. For the panda, the eyes are crocheted separately and sewn on, and the nose and mouth go directly on the face. For the brown bear, the eyes are sewn directly on the face, and the snout is crocheted separately and sewn on.

Size

One Size Fits All, approximately 9 inches tall

Gauge

6 sts across and 7 rnds down = approximately 2 inches

Pattern

Body, Beginning at the head, with (A)

Begin with a magic ring.

Rnd 1: 6 sc in magic ring; 6 sts

Rnd 2: inc in each st around; 12 sts

Rnd 3: (inc, sc in next st)6x; 18 sts

Rnd 4: (inc, sc in next 2 sts)6x; 24 sts

Rnds 5-7: sc in each st around; 24 sts

Rnd 8: (3 inc, sc in next 9 sts)2x; 30 sts

Rnds 9-12: sc in each st around; 30 sts

Rnd 13: (3 invsc2tog, sc in next 9 sts)2x; 24 sts

Rnd 14: sc in each st around; 24 sts

For Panda, change to color (B)

Rnd 15: sc in each st around; 24 sts

Rnd 16: (ch 7, sk next 4 sts, sc in next 8 sts)2x; 30 sts, counting the chs

Rnd 17: (sc into each of the 7 chs, sc in next 8 sts)2x; 30 sts

Arms - Make 2 

For Panda, color (B)

For Brown bear, color (A)

Begin with magic ring. 

Rnd 1: 6 sc in magic ring; 6 sts

Rnd 2: inc in each st around; 12 sts

Rnd 3: BLO, sc in each st around; 12 sts

Rnds 4-12: sc in each st around; 12 sts

Join with sl st to first st. Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing. Sew onto the arm holes in the body, all the way around. Knot and weave ends in on the inside of the body. 

Ears - Make 2 

For Panda, color (B)

For Brown bear, color (A)

Begin with magic ring.

Rnd 1: 6 sc in magic ring; 6 sts

Rnd 2: (inc, sc in next st)3x; 9 sts

Rnds 3-4: sc in each st around; 9 sts

Join with sl st to first st. Fasten off, and sew onto the head, about 3 rnds down from the top. 

Panda ONLY

Right Eye (your left) (B)

Begin with magic ring. Do not join rnds throughout.

Rnd 1: 6 sc in magic ring; 6 sts

Rnd 2: (sc, hdc) in next st, 3 dc in each of the next 2 sts, 2 hdc in next st, (hdc, sc) in next st, sl st into last st; 13 sts

Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing. Sew eye to the left side of the face, with the panda facing you, with the sl st angled toward the ear on the same side. 

Left Eye (your right) (B)

Begin with magic ring. Do not join rnds throughout. 

Rnd 1: 6 sc in magic ring; 6 sts

Rnd 2: sl st into first st, (sc, hdc) in next st, 2 hdc in next st, 3 dc in each of the next 2 sts, (hdc, sc) in next st; 13 sts

Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing. Sew eye to the right side of the face, with the panda facing you, with the sl st angled toward the ear on the same side. 

Nose and mouth for Panda

You do NOT need to make the snout for panda. Use your Tattoo Ink yarn to sew the nose and mouth directly onto the face, as pictured, creating an upside down triangle for the nose, and then filling it in, and stitch on the mouth below the nose. 

Brown Bear ONLY

Snout (B) 

Ch 9

Row 1: turn and sc in 2nd ch from hook, and each ch across; 8 sts

Row 2: ch 1 and turn, sc in each st across; 8 sts

Row 3: ch 1 and turn, dec, sc in next 4 sts, dec; 6 sts

Row 4: ch 1 and turn, dec, sc in next 2 sts, dec; 4 sts

Row 5: ch 1 and turn, 2 dec; 2 sts

Rnd 1: do NOT turn or ch, sc around by working 5 sc down the side, 8 sc across the bottom, 5 sc up the other side, and 2 sc across the top, sl st into first st and fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing onto the face. Use your Tattoo Ink yarn to sew on the nose and mouth before sewing the snout onto the lower center of the face. Use your tapestry needle to make an upside down triangle with the black yarn, and fill it in. Then make a line straight down from the bottom of the triangle nose, and the curves of the mouth. Sew the snout with the top point at rnd 10, and the bottom at about rnd 15, so that it puffs out a bit.

Brown Bear’s Eyes

Eyes for the brown bear are sewn on with the Tattoo Ink yarn, as pictured. Place them around rnds 8 and 9, spanning about 2 to 3 stitches, with about 3 stitches between them. Knot off, inside the head, and weave in ends. 

I hope you have enjoyed this puppet design! Follow me on my social media accounts for more creative toy designs! If you make one, don't forget to tag @ekaygdesigns so I can see your beautiful work! 

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