Groundhog’s are known for popping their heads out of the ground, and what better way to explain this concept to little creatives than with a Groundhog’s Day Puppet! According to Groundhog Day folklore, if the groundhog comes out from his burrow and sees his shadow (sunny morning), winter will last another six weeks. If the groundhog does not see his shadow (cloudy morning), then spring will arrive early.
Will your groundhog see its shadow?!
Before we begin I wanted to let you know that for those of you who want to keep your brown socks I’ve made a removable option as well, using pins to stick everything into the sock, but if you don’t care about using that brown sock again, then please glue straight on to the sock.
Ok, lets begin!
Groundhog Puppet Supplies:
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- Brown Sock
- Pearlized Head Straight Pins (5) (removable option only)
- Styrofoam Ball – size: should fit into toilet paper roll
- Felt– brown, black and white
- Small Elastic
- Googly Eyes (2)
- Toilet Paper Roll (you can also use a cup, oatmeal or other tube like container)
- Skewer Stick
- Bakers Twine
- Scissors
- Elmers Glue
- Glue Gun
Make It:
1. DIP one end of your skewer in glue then push it into the styrofoam ball.
2. PLACE the sock over the toilet roll and push the ball through the tube and into the toe of the sock. The ball will be the head of the groundhog.
3. TIE a small elastic band at the base of the styrofoam ball to make the head.
4. CUT: NOSE & TEETH
- A circle out of black felt for the nose.
- 2 x long and thin teeth (don’t worry we’ll trim them later).
- 3 x whiskers from the bakers twine (cut longer than you think, we’ll trim later).
5. CUT: EARS
- 5a. Fold a corner of a piece brown felt, then cut to make a triangle.
- 5b. Do this twice – you might want to experiment with the size.
6. GLUE: NOSE, TEETH & WHISKERS
- 6a. Glue the teeth to the bottom of the nose, then glue the middle of the whiskers right above.
- 6b. Your nose, teeth and whiskers should look something like this.
- 6c. If you want removable features, glue this to the top of a pin, if you don’t you can skip this step.
7. GLUE: EYES (FOR REMOVABLE OPTION ONLY)
- Glue the eyes onto 1 pin each.
- If you don’t have googly eyes you can make eyes out of felt.
8. GLUE: EARS (FOR REMOVABLE OPTION ONLY)
- Glue each ear around the top of a pin, then cut off the tip, per the picture below:
9. PIN OR GLUE on the Nose.
10. PIN OR GLUE on the Eyes.
11. TRIM the Teeth and Whiskers.
12. PIN OR GLUE on the Ears.
13. / 14. ADD Snow!
- Get a piece of white felt (use what you have, we used a scrap piece of white felt that had a little square missing. Wrap it around the toilet roll, then pin on the back for the removable version, and glue for the permanent one
- If you want to add more snow you can glue cotton balls around the outside too!
15. POP! Goes the Groundhog!
DISCUSS: According to the folklore of Groundhog Day, if the groundhog comes out from his burrow and sees his shadow (sunny morning), winter will last another six weeks. If the groundhog does not see his shadow (cloudy morning), then spring will arrive early.
Fun Fact: Did you know Groundhog Day is February 2nd each year?
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