Black Cat Puppet

Join Puppeteer John Kennedy in creating a purrr-fect puppet for any Halloween gathering. Grab an old black sock, your imagination and get ready to make a Black Cat Sock Puppet!

Black sock
Black fake fur
Templates
Black pom-poms
Pink pom-pom
Red and pink felt
Batting
Plastic jewels
Poster board or cardboard
Scissors
Glue

REMEMBER THAT IT'S IMPORTANT TO ALWAYS WORK UNDER ADULT SUPERVISION. SOMETIMES WE USE OBJECTS THAT COULD BE HARMFUL, LIKE SCISSORS, SO DON'T EVER ATTEMPT TO MAKE THESE PUPPETS ALONE.

1. Print out the templates for the puppet. One will be for the cardboard for the inside of the mouth and the other will be for the felt part of the mouth.
2. Take your felt pattern (the elliptical one) and trace it onto your red felt with a marker. Trace the cardboard pattern (with the two bumps on the top) onto a piece of poster board. Cut both out.
3. Reach inside your black sock and turn it inside out.
4. Hide the seam at the toe of the sock by gluing your poster board mouth piece over it. Make sure the end with the two bumps is facing out from the sock since those bumps will be the cat’s lips.
5. Once dried, grab your poster board and bend it at the corners.
6. Stick your hand back inside the sock and turn it right-side out. You should be able to see the mouth starting to form inside the sock.
7. Next, glue your red felt in the center of the mouth of the sock where the poster board bends.
8. Cut out a small oval of pink felt to make a tongue for the cat’s mouth.
9. Glue the tongue onto the red felt so that it sticks out a bit when the mouth is closed.
10. Lay the sock mouth-side down to finish the cat’s face. Glue on two plastic jewels for eyes and a pink pom-pom for the nose.
11. Cut out small circles of black fur and glue them to the top of the head and the sides of the cheeks. Try the puppet on your hand to figure out exact placement if you have to. The flow of the fur should go down on the sides and forward on the top.
12. Cut off the tube of the sock about six inches from the head of the puppet. The remainder that you cut off will make the arms, legs, tail, and ears for the cat.
13. To make ears, cut out a portion from the tube of the sock and cut out a triangle shape from the center. You should be able to cut off two at once.
14. For the arms, legs, and tail, trim the rest of the tube down so it’s about three or four inches long. Cut the tube long ways into five sections. Roll each piece and glue the edges to keep them rolled. Let them dry.
15. Stick your hand back into your cat and figure out where you want to put the ears. Apply glue on either side where you want the ears to go and stick the ears on. Let those dry.
16. Glue a little black pom-pom onto the bottom of each arm and leg to make paws.
17. Glue the arms to your puppet just under the fur on each side of the mouth. Glue the legs on at the bottom of the puppet.
18. Turn the puppet over and glue the tail to the bottom of the back. Let everything dry.
19. To finish the puppet, cut a three inch strip of batting, roll it up, and place it inside the head of the puppet to give it a bump. Then stick your hand inside and have fun!