Cutest Sock Animal Craft

You're going to hate me...but I wish we had a little more snow this winter?  Before you boo and hiss, I know, it makes driving horrible and it's cold and miserable, but there's nothing like kids sledding or making snowmen and seeing their rosy cheeks when they come in out of the cold, am I right?  But, we've had a (wonderfully) mild winter with barely any snow, which means less bundling (thank goodness, because can we talk about how someone always needs to pee as soon as the snowpants are on?!) and I've gotten the kids out to the park a ton, so I'll stop my whining!

This is my daughter's masterpiece!  She drew on the smile with a marker.  It's cute, but my Martha Stewart side is slightly mortified that it isn't stitched or glued on.

In lieu of actually making snowmen in the snow, my daughter made a sock snowman at a preschool program.  It was so easy and cute that it inspired me to design some other sock animals.  The base is the same for each one and I used a variety of crafty materials for all the features.  You can let your littles go wild with felt and googly eyes.  Just let them lay out all their pieces, and then you can go in and hot glue everything.

I squished an orange pom pom into an oval shape for his nose!

The best thing about this craft is that it uses up all those single socks that have lost their pair!  I had a few lying around because the washing machine seems to be consuming our socks at an alarming rate, but I've lost hope in ever recovering the pairs so they've been put to good use.  Of course now that I've cut them up into pieces, I'm sure the other pair will turn up and I'll be hitting myself.  Sigh.  Anyway, I also bought some socks from the dollar store, so if you feel that you must hang onto the lone socks in hopes of a sock-pairing miracle, there's a solution.

If you're looking for a good source for the stuffing, may I suggest stealing some from the rejected stuffed animals that are hiding in the toy box?  I sacrificed one of those cheap toys that you win at carnivals.  Gosh, this craft is amazing at getting rid of rejects!

Um, also, can you imagine how cute this craft would be at Easter?!  With blue and pink fuzzy bunnies, or yellow chicks?!  Pin it now and dig it up in a few weeks when you're looking for an Easter craft!

Materials:

• socks in various colors
• scissors
• hot glue gun + hot glue sticks
• quilt batting or some other stuffing
• rice or beans
• elastics or twist ties
• embellishments (felt, googly eyes, feathers, fun foam, yarn, pipe cleaners, markers, pom poms...whatever your imagination desires!) 
• tall glass or container (optional)

Basic Method:

1. Take your sock and open it up over the edge of a tall glass.  This will help you to keep it open while you stuff it.
   
2. Bunch up some quilt batting for the head of your animal and stuff it into the sock.
3. Use an elastic or twist tie to cinch the sock closed.

   

   Use a matching elastic color so it's less visible!

4. Open up the sock over the edge of your glass again, and take enough stuffing for the body of your animal and stuff it into the sock again.
   
5. Put in a few handfuls of rice or beans to weigh down the bottom of your sock animal.  The amount you need will depend on the size of your animal.  I put in 3 handfuls.
   
   
6. Secure the end with an elastic and trim off any extra sock material.  Press the end into your animal so it sits flat.  You'll see that the panda, snowman, bear, Elmo, bird and dog were made using just this base (with a skinny neck).
   
   
   
   
7. If you're looking for a "plumper" animal, use another sock and place this base inside.  I cut off the excess material at the bottom and didn't even bother closing this outer sock.
   
8. Decorate to your heart's content!  My daughter liked having creative control of her snowman and actually had it covered in stickers at the beginning, but they've fallen off since and you'll see it's pretty simple.  You can see some of our suggested ideas below if you're looking for a place to start.

Have you seen "My Neighbor Totoro"?!  It's such a cute movie!

Seriously, go grab that pile of single socks and go wild!  What animal or creature did you end up making?  Tag us on Instagram (@smocksandsprinkles) if you try this craft!

I stole the hat off my daughter's snoman and I used a different part of the sock as a sweater!