Its Easy Being Green Episode 22: Sock Puppets with Bonnie

Episode 22 of my local t.v. show was about making sock puppets.  My guest was Bonnie Rankin, a local storyteller.  We had a blast making sock puppets out of items that we already had at home.  This is a great project do do with your kids this summer.  These are the 2 puppets that I made during the show.

The white one is a short sock.  Her eyes and mouth were painted on with puffy paint.  Her hair is a wrapped and tied novelty yarn that is glued on with a hot glue gun.  Two purple pom pom like things from the novelty yarn are her nostrils.  A long, skinny scrap of purple fabric was tied around her neck like a scarf.  I think she looks like Carla from Cheers.

The pink one is a knee high sock.  Her eyes are lima beans with dots (from a sharpie) on them for the pupils.  They are glued on in different directions (one horizontal and one vertical).  Her nose is a heart cut out from felt with two black dots drawn on for nostrils.  I wrapped two pieces of chenille stems around a pencil and glued them to the top of her head.  I used a hot glue gun for all of the glueing.  Then I took a fake flower, cut it, and glued it on her head as well.  Bonnie said that she looks like a dragon.

The inside of the pink one's mouth is a piece of black fabric (the back side of a printed fabric) and a pink paper clip for the tongue.  While wearing the white one, I drew the inside of the mouth with a sharpie.  Then I used some puffy paint and a paint brush to paint over the sharpie later on.  It took a full 24 hours for the paint to dry completely.

It was a lot of fun creating these fun sock puppets.  We just gathered various scraps and odds and ends from around our homes to use in making them.  We did not buy a thing.  Bonnie also brought in a sock puppet theater that she had made from a discarded cardboard box, some construction paper, and fabric.  All of those things she already had in her house.

What a fun summer craft or rainy day activity for you and your kids to make.  Just think of the possibilities: make the puppets, make a theater, write a play, preform the play, etc.