Playing with a homemade sock puppet is lots of fun and can also develop your little one's speaking and social skills. Making up fun characters can help you to be expressive as you tell stories and really engage your child's imagination.
Watch the video for some ideas of how to play and make up stories together using fun sock puppet characters.
The benefits of making sock puppets with kids
- Sock puppets can be really useful props to help children use their imagination
- Having sock puppet characters to hand may help you to talk and play with your child using actions and expressions. This will help to keep them engaged in play and build their listening skills
How to make a sock puppet
Making a sock puppet couldn't be easier - all you need is an old sock and a marker pen, or if you like, craft materials like felts, pipe cleaners, googly eyes or coloured card and some PVA glue to stick them to the sock.
Keeping an eye on your child at all times, draw/craft the faces on one side of the sock, so that when you put your hand in, your hand becomes a mouth and the eyes/nose are on the top.
Be careful to watch your child at all times - some craft materials can be a choking hazard. Be careful to use child-safe glues like PVA and non-toxic marker pens.
How to play with sock puppets with toddlers
- Give the sock puppet a name - introduce them to your child and speak to them as the puppet character
- Use expressive voices for your characters and describe what they're doing 'Socky is biting your toes!'
- Let your child lead - pause and wait for them to respond to the character when you make it 'speak' to them. Try letting them decide what the character does next.
- Ask simple questions like 'Are you trying to feed Socky?'
More imaginative play ideas for 18-24 months
When children reach this age they begin to take a real interest in playing pretend
- They might like to act out giving dolly a bath
- Or cooking together at meal time
- Or maybe they would like to have a go at playing shop?
Image caption, Simply draw a face on an old sock to create your puppet.
1 of 3
