What it shows
Old clothes can be reused instead of thrown away. Making puppets and telling stories also builds speaking and imagination.
The science
Textile waste fills landfills, because cloth takes a long time to break down. Reusing a sock as a puppet gives it a new life. A puppet moves when your hand moves inside it. The mouth opens and closes as you bend your fingers and thumb.
Materials
Cost: free. Many items come from home or from waste; spare parts such as LEDs, motors and wire are in the store.
- Three or four old socks (free)
- Buttons for eyes (free)
- Wool or cloth scraps for hair
- Fevicol or fabric glue
- A needle and thread
- Felt or paper for mouths and ears
Safety
For this project: An adult must do any sewing and use the glue. Keep buttons away from very young children.
Never use mains electricity: power models with cells, batteries or a low-voltage adapter. Sharp and hot tools, flames and lab chemicals need an adult or your teacher beside you. Keep magnets, button cells and small parts away from young children, and wash your hands after making.
All the safety rulesStep by step
8 steps. Do them in order, and test each part before you go on to the next. Write what you notice in a notebook as you go.
Wash and dry the old socks.
Put a sock on your hand with your fingers in the toe and thumb in the heel to make a mouth.
Glue or sew on button eyes above the mouth.
Cut a red felt tongue and glue it inside the mouth.
Add wool for hair and cloth scraps for ears or a hat.
Make each puppet different, such as mother, father and baby.
Write a short story about a family at a festival.
Put on the show for your family, with each puppet speaking.
What you should see
A family of sock puppets and a short puppet show that you perform.
Viva questions
A teacher or a judge will ask how it works. Try to answer each question before you open it, then compare.
1Why reuse old socks?
Cloth takes long to break down, so reuse saves waste.
2How does the mouth open and close?
By bending your fingers and thumb.
3What was your story about?
Tell your own story.
4What else can old clothes become?
Bags, dusters and toys.
Take it further
Make a stage from a cardboard box and add a curtain from cloth.
Change one thing, measure what happens, and add a table or chart of your readings: that is what turns a model into your own investigation.
Free ebooks for this project
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