Summer vacation is a great time for children to try new craft activities. Often parents face the turmoil of handling restless and energetic children at home. This is inevitable, considering children have plenty of free time on hand during vacations! Parents often worry about coming up with new ideas trying to keep the young ones busy and engaged. After all, thinking about new ideas for kids to kill time creatively is not really an easy task. That brings to my mind, an interesting hobby idea I had come across during my childhood days. Making puppets at home was an interesting activity, I had learned at a summer camp. Sock Puppets to Soak Your Imagination Sock puppets, as the name suggests, are basically puppets that are made of socks. A sock is worn over the hand and the fingers manipulate the toe area of the sock, which forms the mouth of the puppet. There are various ways that can be used to decorate such puppets. Basic Sock Puppet What You Will Need:

• Old socks
• Materials for decorating - Beads, buttons, fringes, googly craft eyes, felt scraps, old jewelry, masking tape, pompoms, stick-on dots, rug scraps, yarn etc.
• Needle
• Thread
• Fabric glue

Instructions: Pull the sock over one hand and keep the other hand free for drawing. The heel or base of the sock should go over the thumb. Move your fingers to understand the way the 'mouth' of the puppet should be positioned. Use any of the materials mentioned above to decorate the face of the puppet. Sew on the buttons as eyes, make a nose out of felt scrap, use the old jewelry as decoration, and yarn for the puppet's hair. Basically, unleash your creativity in decorating this sock puppet. Once you are done, wear the sock and move the fingers from inside to observe how your puppet can 'talk'! Once you have developed the knack of making these, you can utilize the rest of the sock to form the body of the puppet! Cute Doggie Puppet What You Will Need:

• Socks
• Googly eyes
• Waxed paper
• Scissors
• Glue
• Felt (colors of your choice)

Instructions: First, crumple the waxed paper. Use it to stuff the inside of the sock. Meanwhile, cut two large floppy ears out of felt scraps. You need to choose the colors of the felt very carefully, so that they blend well with each other. Glue these ears to the sides of the sock puppet. Your next step involves cutting a circular shape of the felt, preferably a shade of brown for the nose. Glue this to the front of the sock. Also glue the googly eyes. Cut a shape of a pink colored felt, which will form the mouth of the dog. Attach a red colored felt for a tongue to this! Your dog sock puppet is ready to give you a loving lick! Use these ideas to turn leisure hours into a fun-time activity. After all, watching an inanimate puppet come to life will always be an exciting moment for children. Have fun!