Muumade - How to Make a Sock Puppet that Really Swallows Food

A sock puppet that really swallows food is a puppet that can ‘eat’ whatever you put into its mouth! This is because the puppet’s mouth is connected to its tummy. There are a lot of tutorials available online to learn how to make sock puppets, but I have not found any puppets with a mouth that is connected to their tummy. (Here is a link to a helpful tutorial for making sock puppets with a mouth that opens and closes, although they cannot swallow food like the puppets described in this post.) So, here it is!

This tutorial was inspired by the pig puppet in the photo above, which my daughter made as part of a volunteer activity for older students to spend time with younger students in her school.

The following instructions are for making the wolf sock puppet, also shown in the above photo. The wolf puppet’s mouth, which is the heel of the sock, is directly connected to its tummy, which is the toe of the sock. So, when an object is put into the wolf’s mouth, it goes into its tummy!

If you wish to make a wolf puppet and would like to use the same patterns for its ears, nose and tail as mine, you can download them from Free_Wolf_Sock_Puppet_Pattern-Letter-Muumade (US Letter size) or Free_Wolf_Sock_Puppet_Pattern-A4-Muumade (A4 size). But, you do not have to necessarily make a wolf. In fact you can make all kinds of animals in a similar manner; simply change its ears, nose and tail to whatever shapes appropriate for the animal that you want to make.

What you will need:

1 microfiber fuzzy sock (also described as chenille or cozy)*
2 googly eyes, approximately 2 cm (3/4″) in diameter
1 felt or foam sheet for the ears and tail**
1 felt or foam sheet for the nose, in a different color from that used for the ears and tail**
(optional) 1 felt or foam sheet for the tongue, in red**
Craft glue
1 needle with thread or a stapler to attach the ears, nose and tail onto the sock puppet.***

*If you want your puppet to have big teeth like the ones I made for the wolf sock puppet in the above photo, I recommend that you select a sock that has a light colored heel as it becomes the roof of the puppet’s mouth.

**If you are sewing, I recommend that you use felt instead of foam.

***As you can see in the photo above, my daughter stapled the pig’s nose and ears onto the sock because it is much quicker than sewing or gluing.

	1. Start to turn the sock inside out (folding outwards) and stop once the fold reaches the heel.
	2. (Optional) If you do not want for your sock puppet to have big teeth like the ones I made for the wolf puppet, please skip to Step 4. Prepare a needle with sewing thread in a color that matches the heel of the sock. Insert the needle into the center of the heel of the sock about 1 cm (??) from the edge, and make several tight loops in the same spot, scrunching the fabric there, as shown in the photo on the left. (For a close-up image, please refer to the photo in the next step.)
	3. Repeat twice more, making one loop about 2 cm (??) away from the first on each side. These 3 loops of thread then create 4 giant teeth.
	4. Cut out 1 nose and 2 ears from felt or foam.
	5. Glue on the googly eyes and nose. Let the glue dry.
	6. Attach the ears onto the top of the puppet’s head. As you see in the photos on the left, I recommend bending the bases of the ears slightly forward when attaching them, so that they stand up. You can sew, glue or staple the ears onto the sock puppet.
	7. Cut out the tail from felt or foam.
	8. Attach the tail onto the toe area of the sock, as shown in the left photo. (I also added a yellow button as an accent.) Again, you may sew, glue or staple it on.
	9. (Optional) Cut out the tongue from red felt or foam.
	10. Glue the tongue onto the bottom of the inside of the puppet’s mouth. I suggest you position the tongue so that its tip sticks out of the mouth a little bit as shown in the second photo on the left.