How to Make a Sock Puppet
If the mysterious "Sock Eater" has left you a pile of single socks, then let everyone make puppets one day. Puppets are a good way for children to talk about their world to adults without feeling pressure or embarrassment.
Other People Are Reading
Things You'll Need
- Wiggly Eyes
- Cotton Socks
- Single Socks
- 3/8-inch Dowels
- Styrofoam Balls
- Batting
- Craft Pompoms
- Fabric Glue
- Felt
- Scrap Yarn
- Cotton Swabs
- Plastic Drinking Cups
- Scissors
- Construction Paper
- Permanent Markers
- Pipe Cleaners
- Permanent markers
- Pipe cleaners
Instructions
-
Hand Puppet
-
1
Save a single clean sock. The sock needs to be large enough to fit loosely over a child's hand.
-
2
Gather craft supplies such as construction paper, permanent marker, wiggly eyes, felt, yarn, pipe cleaners, craft glue, cotton balls or batting.
-
-
3
Place hand in sock with thumb and fingers working like a mouth.
-
4
Mark lightly with a marker - areas for mouth, eyes, nose, and ears.
-
5
Cut ears and mouth from felt and glue in marked areas with fabric glue or craft glue.
-
6
Glue wiggly eyes in place. However, make eyes with a black permanent marker if puppet is going to be using by small children.
-
7
Use yarn cut into small strings and glued to sock for hair or horse's mane.
-
8
Make antlers, horns, or antennas from pipe cleaners.
Stick Puppet
-
9
Use an adult-sized clean sock.
-
10
Gather craft supplies: Styrofoam balls, 3/8-inch dowel rod, plastic cups, wiggly eyes, felt, yarn, pipe cleaners, craft glue, craft pompoms, and cotton balls.
-
11
Push the dowel rod at an angle into the Styrofoam ball.
-
12
Cut four ear shapes for your puppet from felt.
-
13
Lay a pipe cleaner bent in half on one felt ear shape and glue the other felt ear shape on top - leaving about 1 inch of pipe cleaner sticking out of the bottom of the ear. This is what you will stick into the foam ball.
-
14
Place foam ball with dowel rod inside sock.
-
15
Glue on wiggle eyes, or draw eyes with a permanent marker.
-
16
Glue or draw on nose. Pompoms found in a store's craft department make cute noses.
-
17
Cut a small slit in the sock on the side of the head for the ears. Poke the pipe cleaner through the slit into the foam ball. Make pipe-cleaner antennas the same way.
-
18
Stuff the neck with batting. You will need to use enough batting to make the head stand up.
-
19
Cut a hole into the bottom of the plastic cup. Turn cup upside down and slide over dowel rod up inside the sock neck.
-
20
Move puppet by holding the cup and moving the dowel rod.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Stick puppets are good to use with a stage or puppet box.
For young children, do not use any small pieces such as wiggly eyes or buttons that they can remove and place in their mouths.
