How to Make a Simple Sock Puppet (No Sewing Necessary)

If the kids are home and can’t go outside, make today a puppet play day!

Making a simple sock puppet is not hard. With some old socks or mismatched socks and some basic craft supplies you have around the home, kids can create simple no-sew sock puppets. 

Learn more about how kids can create a simple sock puppet by watching our video or keep reading this post for a photo tutorial with step-by-step instructions.

If you need more crafts and activities to keep your kids busy and entertained without a lot of screen time, we have rounded up a list of 60+ Indoor Home Activities and Crafts for Kids.

What are some of the benefits of puppet play?

• Improve Motor Skills - Manipulating puppets encourages movement which will improve fine motor skills.
• Stimulate Imagination - Creating puppets and creating puppet shows are ways to stimulate the imagination.
• Develop Language Skills - Puppets can increase communication and language skills through oral speaking.
• Social and Behavior Development - Through role-playing children can learn how to act and behave when with other children and adults. 
• Teach Etiquette - Learn to say "please", "thank you", "excuse me".
• Music Appreciation - Puppets make the perfect companion for helping to teach children a new song and song gestures. Puppets can make marching and dancing to music more interesting.
•  Encourage Creativity - Children can use puppets to come up with stories and creative ways to solve problems.
• Boost Confidence - Puppets give children the confidence to read or talk out loud when around other people or in class.

What are the different kinds of puppets?

• Sock Puppets
• Paper Bag Puppets
• Craft Stick Puppets
• Plastic or Wooden Spoon Puppets
• Glove or Mitten Puppets
• Animal or Picture Puppets
• Paper Plate Puppets
• Pipe Cleaner Puppets
• Marionette or String Puppets
• Rod Puppets

HOW TO MAKE A SOCK PUPPET

INSTRUCTIONS FOR MAKING A SOCK PUPPET

STEP 1: Pick out a sock for your puppet

To make the simple sock puppet, a crew sock or knee sock works well.  The sock can be any color, fuzzy or plain, with a print or without.

First, decide where to put the puppet's eyes.  To do this, put your hand or have your child put their hand inside the puppet with fingers in the toe part and the thumb in the heel.  With a marker, mark where you want the eyes to go.  The eyes will be attached later.

STEP 2: Make the Sock Puppet's Mouth

Let's start by making the puppet’s mouth.  On a table or work surface, spread the bottom of the sock out facing up.

Cut an oval shape from felt that is around the same size as the sole of the sock.    Apply glue to the outside edge of the oval and a few dabs of glue in the middle.

Place the oval on the sole of the sock.

STEP 3: Attach the Puppet's Eyes

Turn the sock over.  It is now time to attach the eyes.  For my puppet, I am using googly eyes but if you don’t have googly eyes you can use buttons or cut round circles out of felt.  Glue the eyes on to the marks.

STEP 4: Glue on the sock puppet's nose

Next, glue the pompom nose to the sock puppet.   No pompoms!  No problem! Cut out a piece of felt for the nose. Or how about attaching a bottle cap?

STEP 5: Add Hair to the Sock Puppet

My puppet is going to have some hair.  To make hair, cut strips of yarn with a scissor.

Apply some glue to the top of the puppet's head and stack the yarn in the glue. 

Before playing with the puppet, allow the glue to dry.  The glue I used will dry clear.

Make a Sock Puppet Theatre

While waiting for the glue to dry, you and your child can create a puppet theatre with a cardboard box. Or decorate a tri-fold display board and set it on a small table.  Or simply drape a sheet or tablecloth across a table and hid behind it to perform the puppet show. Or make more sock puppets.

This is a basic sock puppet but your child can make an endless array of puppets with different supplies and by adding different features.  Things like googly eyes, buttons, bottle caps, pompoms, felt, yarn, ribbon, fabric, pipe cleaners, rickrack, lace, cupcake liners, bows, and beads can be used to make puppets.  

Just give your child a mismatched sock, glue and an assortment of supplies and let their creative and imaginative talents explode.

HERE ARE EXAMPLES OF TWO MORE SOCK PUPPETS

DOG SOCK PUPPET

To make the dog sock puppet:

1. Complete the above basic sock puppet instructions from steps 1 to 3.

2. For the nose, from felt cut a triangle and glue it to the puppet.  Refer to the above picture for the placement of the nose.

3. From felt cut two ears and glue one ear to each side of the sock right above the eyes.

The dog sock puppet is complete and ready for barking action. 

SILLY SOCK PUPPET

For this silly sock puppet, the mouth was made from pink felt and attached to the toe of the sock instead of attaching a mouth to the sole of the sock.

Buttons were used for the eyes and a bow was made with a scrap piece of fabric.  Really simple, silly and fast.

Sock puppets are a great way to recycle socks.  Need more sock puppets ideas?  To name of few you can make a monster, giraffe, cat, doll, dragon, horse and ballerina puppet.  Puppet making is only as limited as your imagination.

After creating the puppet it is time for a puppet show or activity.

Sock Puppet Show Ideas!

• Create characters from a favorite book and act out a scene.
• Sing a song in a puppet voice.
• Reenact a Bible story.
• Have the puppet dance to a favorite song.
• Act out a scene from a TV show or movie.
• Kids can tell and act out activities they like to do with friends.
• Act out everyday scenarios.
• Have the puppet read a book out loud.
• Show how the puppet shows emotions - happy, sad, angry, etc.
• Play school!  Let a puppet teach another puppet or the audience.

While creating the puppet, teach your child this cute puppet rhyme.

Make a Puppet by Trica J. Dreher
Needle, thread,
Or just plain glue.
Sticks, socks,
And paper, too.

Buttons, yarn,
Some old string!
Just about
Anything.

Make a puppet
The way you choose.
Use your imagination
And you can’t lose!

Have fun making puppets!

Thank you for reading this post.  We hope you enjoyed this tutorial on how to make a sock puppet.  Let us know what you think about it.  Check out our Fun Kid's Craft Projects Pinterest Board if you would like more kids' craft projects.

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