How to Make Raccoon Sock Puppets

A raccoon sock puppet can offer hours of fun.

With its distinctive black-and-white bandit's mask and bushy ringed tail, the nocturnal raccoon is easy to spot and has a reputation for nighttime mischief, scavenging through trash cans and gardens for food. Teach your child about the raccoon and its habits with a raccoon sock puppet. More than just educational, your child can use the raccoon puppet to represent a mischievous character in a play or sleep with it as a soft toy. Although the raccoon may be mischievous by nature, you can easily customize your puppet to make it more kid-friendly.

Things You'll Need

• 2 gray socks
• Black sock
• Yarn
• Thread
• Embroidery needle
• Sewing needle
• Scissors

Instructions

1. Find two gray socks. Gray socks that are long and thick work the best. Wash and dry your socks to ensure that your raccoon sock puppet is not dirty or bad-smelling.

2. Create the nose and mouth. Carefully thread a long piece of black yarn through the eye of your embroidery needle. Locate the end of the sock opposite from the opening. Use a fishbone stitch to embroider a small triangle for the nose of your raccoon 2 to 3 inches below. Use the same stitch to embroider a small semi-circle ½ inch under the nose to create a mouth.

3. Cut two nickel-sized holes on either side of your gray sock, approximately 2 to 3 inches below the mouth for the arms. Cut two strips of gray sock material from the second, unused gray sock. Use your finger as a measuring tool and wrap the strips around your thumb. Sew the strips shut so they are closed entirely except for a nickel-sized hole in the end of each arm. Sew the open end of these arms over each of the two holes you cut in either side of the original gray sock using a backstitch. Cut off any extra material or thread.

4. Make a tail for your raccoon puppet, employing the same method for making the arms. Cut a nickel-sized hole on the back of the original gray sock. Make a tail from a closed strip of the second gray sock and a backstitch to sew this tail over the small hole on the back of your puppet.

   Cut small strips from the black sock and wrap these around the tail. Use a backstitch to sew the strips in place to simulate the black rings that are around the tail of a typical raccoon.

5. Create eyes and ears for your sock puppet. Cut an inch-wide strip of material from your black sock. Wrap this material around the face of your sock puppet, ½ inch above the nose. Sew this material in place.

   Use your embroidery needle and yarn to embroider two small eyes in this black strip using fishbone stitches with black and white yarn. Cut two small triangles from the secondary gray sock and backstitch them on the top of the sock, above the eyes. These two triangles will serve as the ears of your sock puppet.

Tips & Warnings

• Make the process easier by using a black magic marker instead of strips of black sock material for the rings around the eyes and the tail.

• Use caution when handling the scissors or needles to avoid injury.

References

• Craftster.org: Sock Animal Puppet Patterns
• NeedlePointers.com: Stitching Tutorials