My kingdom for some....puppets?

Today, I thought I would post about something I love to use for early sessions of articulation therapy with my kindergartners.

These come from the Dollar Tree

My favorite puppet is called, "Sammy Snake," and he makes a hissing noise via a little voice box in his head. He is one of my many Goodwill finds. Sammy also ended up being my lifesaver last year when I got a particularly stubborn student who didn't want to cooperate. All I had to do was offer the opportunity to make Sammy talk and have him cheer for successful sound productions.

If you want puppets to use for therapy, you may want to think about recycling and revamping some old socks. I am in love with sock puppets. They are inexpensive and don't take up as much room as your more traditional puppets might. Saving money and space...I'm all in. You can even give them a back story to add even more interest and tie into language goals. So here's a quick little guide to making your own "Sammy" or perhaps "Stripes."

I'm in love with the sock puppets on this blog!

Materials:1 Sock
2 Googly eyes (whichever size you prefer) or paint
Small square of red felt
Scissors
Glue (fabric glue is best)
Decorations such as ribbon for stripes or maybe fuzzy balls for spots

Steps:
1. Cut the red felt into a forked tongue shape with a long base for gluing to the sock.
2. Glue the eyes near the toe end of the sock.
3. Glue the tongue underneath the toe end of the sock.
4. Decorate to your heart's content 

You can also check out this wiki space for more ideas.