What are sock puppets?

Usually used in children’s theatre, sock puppets are… well, socks… Duh!

Sock puppets are made by removing part of the toes of a sock, and inserting and attaching a mouth piece (usually made out of a stiff cardboard) to the inside of the toe area. Then the outside of the sock is decorated with facial features, hair, and so on. These puppets are best used in small theatres, and are not really appropriate for outdoors, unless you use a puppet booth like what is used for glove puppetry.

Sock puppets can be lots of fun, but because they are usually made with socks, they can become very generic looking. Sock puppets are also limited in what they can do, with only the mouth being able to be moved; any addition of limbs would require some form of mechanism to be manipulated, and if this is what you want, you might want to consider using a more muppet-type design.

But sock puppets can be an excellent place for new puppet makers to start, as well as a good activity for young children and families.

Learn how to make one of these puppets here. Find out what materials to use, or get some free patterns.

Want more? Help build a puppet!

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2 comments

Comment from: Patricia Coffie [Visitor] · http://www.patstories.com

Sock puppets are not limited to moving mouths. They can shimmy, they can shake, they can bend at the neck (wrist) and again at the ??? (elbow). They can move their heads, they can carry things, they can jump and hop and swim and dance. They can roll over or stand up. They can be startled or soothed and show that physically. I have two that have delighted audiences and me for more than 30 years--sock puppets last! If you build them right, they can be washed and even little babies can play safely with them. Please give the good old sock puppet its proper due!

Last time I counted, I had more than 300 puppets (lots of kinds) and more than 30 years in the puppet playing.

Pat

31/01/08 @ 06:59

Comment from: Puppets in Melbourne [Member]

You're right Pat, they can do a lot more than what I described here. I've not used sock puppets much, and that probably shows through in what I wrote; I do think though that for the general public, sock puppets are stereotyped... perhaps people should check out my 'how to make a sock puppet' tutorial on the site, which actually experiments with a non-traditional building method.

Perhaps in the future I can come back and rewrite the post with a little more info than I've given here.

Cheers,

Naomi

31/01/08 @ 18:37

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