Make Sock Puppets with a Tech Twist

Who doesn’t like puppets? Puppetry offers hours of creative fun. You can use materials around the house, but here’s the new Tech twist: grab your cell phone or electronic tablet and create puppet shows online. Then save your electronic puppet show as a video to post and share on Facebook or YouTube with others in your family.

Materials Needed:

Gather old, clean socks and markers. You also need glue, yarn, scissors, buttons, felt or cloth to create the face and other clothing on your puppet.  Check out garage sales or visit your local craft store for sale items.

 Go to the Internet iTunes links below to download the free Sock Puppet and Puppet Pals Apps to your Mac, iPad or iPod Touch.  Puppet Pals also has a full version with multiple characters and backgrounds for $2.99.  For Android phone & tablet users, use the Amazon link and search Puppet Show Apps.

Sock Puppet for iOS App http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sock-puppets/id394504903?mt=8 ; Puppet Pals  for iOS http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/puppet-pals-hd/id342076546?mt=8

or search Amazon (www.Amazon.com) for the Puppet Show Android Apps by Bran Herman which costs $ .99

What to do:

Put a sock on your hand, pulling the tip of the sock into your palm to create the talking mouth.  Use the marker to mark the locations for two eyes above your knuckles. Glue the pieces of yarn to create hair, and buttons for eyes. Cut and glue on cloth for a scarf, hat or shirt.

Bring your puppet to life using different voices and puppet face movements to express feelings: anger, fear, happiness, sadness, etc. Your puppet can recite a poem, abc’s, counting, or sing a song. Make up stories with two puppets talking to each other.  This is a fun way for kids to use language and express emotions creating dialog and speaking through their puppets.

Save your stories and recitations as videos and share on Facebook or YouTube. Here you will be able to view your creation over and over.  Kids love repetition and seeing their creations online. For more advanced puppet shows, use the Puppet Pal app. Here are some tips and tricks for using these apps: http://blog.simplek12.com/education/socks-or-puppets/

What else can we do?
Read fairy tales and poems together and discuss how these stories develop. Do a Google search for puppetry videos online using key words “youtube kids puppets” (make sure to include the word “kids” in the search).

How does this help my children?

Puppetry helps develop language and writing skills where kids learn sequencing of events, and visual representation.  Development of emotional learning and communication skills occurs through creation of situations, laying the groundwork for future writing activities. 

Photo from Wikipedia Creative Commons Images at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sockbutterfly.jpg
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