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!
This past Spring, I included these designs in my first Read Across America Crochet-a-Long! You can use this pattern to also make a polar bear quite easily, and have the cute and cuddly bears from one of our favorite books, I Love You Even When, by Donna Keith. This was a favorite of my youngest daughter’s for her pre-k years, and tells a wonderful story about how Mommy and Daddy love their children even when they misbehave.
If you’re interested in a printer-friendly PDF of the bear and panda hand puppet patterns, you can find the design in my Ravelry or Etsy shops! You can also purchase all of the exact yarn needed for both of these puppets in this kit from The Hook Nook! If you prefer to use the free blog copy below, I still appreciate you being here! And another great way to support my blog is simply by sharing! Thank you for supporting my business!
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. Pages 2-5 are the written pattern for easy printing. Page 6 contains the process pictures.
Size: One Size Fits All, approximately 9 inches tall
Gauge: 6 sts across and 7 rnds down = approximately 2 inches
Materials:
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 large-eyed blunt needle
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.
- Insert hook into front loop only of next stitch, DO NOT yarn over.
- Insert hook into front loop of second stitch.
- Yarn over. Pull through 2 loops.
- Yarn over and pull through last 2 loops.
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
For Panda, change back to color (A)
Rnds 18-30: sc in each st around; 30 sts
Join with a sl st to first st. Fasten off and weave in ends.
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 making the bear and panda hand puppet! Don’t forget to check out the koala hand puppet as well! If you loved making these toys and show them off on Instagram, please be sure to tag @ekaygdesigns to let me know, and I will share in my stories!
