Arts & Crafts

How to Make Monster Sock Puppets

By: Highlights Editorial
A puppet stage and hand puppets made from socks and old gloves.
45
minute activity
For All Ages
Creativity
Fine Motor Skills

Maybe the monster under your child’s bed is just an old sock waiting to become a star in monster theater! These charming, not alarming, sock puppets will have your kids playing and laughing at monsters and their silly antics. Let the kids use a couch or desk as a stage—or help them make their own performance space from a large box. Learn how to make a sock puppet from Highlights!

What You'll Need

What to Do

  1. To make a face, cut out a circle from cardstock. Glue on pompom eyes with felt pupils, yarn for fur, a balloon for the nose and rickrack for the mouth.

  2. Glue the face to the toe of an old sock.

  3. For armholes, cut a slit in each side of the sock below the head.

  4. Put an old glove inside the sock, with the thumb and pinky finger sticking out of the slits.

  5. For claws, glue rickrack to the end of each arm.

  6. For a tail, bunch a bit of fabric on the back of the puppet. Poke a chenille stick through the fabric and twist it in place. Bend or curl the tail.

  7. Make a few puppets, and put on a show!

Extend the Fun

Younger kids: Encourage your child to put on a show for the family. Help him schedule a time for the performance and make a poster advertising it. He’ll have fun thinking of a name for the theater, a name for the show, and names for the monster stars. Then pop some popcorn and dim the lights so the show can begin!

Older kids: There are many roles required to put on a show. Support your budding drama enthusiast and help your child find whether she likes to write the dialogue, design the set, orchestrate the music, cue the lights, direct the action, record the performance, or be that charming monster star. Or maybe she wants to do it all! With so many different roles, monster theater can be a great afternoon activity with friends.

Author Photo
By: Highlights Editorial