AY Honors/Puppetry/Answer Key

A sock puppet is a puppet made from a sock (or similar garment) which is placed over the hand of a puppeteer. When a sock puppeteer fits their hand into the closed end of the sock, the sock puppet can be made to "talk" with the opening and closing of the hand. The puppet's mouth is formed by the region between the heel and the toe, with the thumb forming a jaw. At a minimum the shape of the hand will instantly form the shape of a mouth, but sometimes the mouth is padded by putting in a fairly hard piece of felt (often with a tongue glued inside). Sometimes the region between the toe and heel is cut open with scissors to form a mouth.

The sock is stretched out fully so that it is long enough to cover the puppeteer's wrist. Often, but not always, the puppeteer will hide behind a stand and raise up his or her hand above the stand so that only the puppet is visible. Many sock puppeteers, however, stand in full view along with their puppets and will hold conversations with their own sock puppets, using ventriloquism.

Sock puppets can be made from socks or stockings of any colour. Worn-out socks may be used, although socks that are too tattered may fall apart during performance, but socks are usually bought brand-new from the store in order to make sock puppets. Various additions can be glued on in order to give the sock a personality. Streamers and felt strings are popularly glued on for hair. Googly eyes (obtained from craft or fabric stores) are glued on for the puppet's eyes.

Uses

Sock puppets have many uses. They can be used in often elaborate puppet shows or children's plays, much as marionettes would be used. Sock puppets can also appear, like other puppets, on television shows. They can be used alone on the puppeteer's hand to entertain children, without a complex stage or show. Two orange sock puppets named "Fu" and "Fara" are used in teaching German children how to read.[1] People also make and display sock puppets for their own artistic value.

As sock puppets appear friendly, non-threatening, and clearly non-human, therapists often have their patients speak to a sock puppet when they feel inhibited from speaking to the therapist. [2] For the same reasons, and because oneself and one's sock puppet often feel like two different persons, one can speak through a sock puppet to express thoughts or facets of one's personality that one would not feel free to admit in person or fears would harm one's reputation were they actually said in one's own person.