It’s our final day of Zoo Week as part of Summer Fun Camp!
Today, I want to show you how to make new friends!
No really, we’ll physically make a new friend – and these little guys (or girls) are so easy and cute, you’ll probably want to make more than one.
Please introduce yourself to my new friend, Ellie the No-Sew Sock Elephant. She’s very pleased to meet you!
Ok, once you get finished saying “Awwww!!! She’s so cuuuuttte!!!” we’ll move along.
Ready? Alrighty then, first you need to round up your supplies:
- Cute socks – I used a cheap pair of women’s socks from Target – roughly $3.99ish
- Polyfill
- Felt
- Rice or beans
- Rubberbands
- Googly eyes
Easy-Peasy Instructions
1. Lay your sock out flat with the heel facing down. You’ll need two rubberbands and two balls of polyfill.
2. Roll each ball of polyfill in the palm of your hand, then stuff each ball into the toe of the sock, one on each side, and secure with a rubberband. (See photo above.)
3. Grab a big ol’ ball of polyfill for the body. You’ll need lots to make your little friend nice and fat.
4. Stuff the sock until it’s about halfway full.
5. Grab two more balls of polyfill and two more rubberbands.
6. Roll in the palm of your hand and stuff in the sock at the top of the “body”. Secure with rubberbands to make arms.
7. Grab another big ol’ ball of polyfill for the head, and another rubberband.
8. Stuff the heel of the sock to create the head, then use the rubberband to make a neck. Be sure to push the polyfill back into the heel of the sock so the material will lay properly to make the elephant’s trunk.
9. Pull the remaining material to the front of the “face” and secure with a rubberband to create the trunk.
10. Cut off the band of the sock.
11. Roll the material into itself and seal with a hot glue gun.
12. Using a Sharpie, make dots where the eyes need to be.
13. Secure googly eyes with a hot glue gun.
14. Lay your poor little ear-less elephant onto the felt and freehand a set of ears. If you fold the felt in half, you’ll only have to cut once, and your ears will match, which is always nice. 🙂
15. Cut out the ears and place them on the back of your elephant’s head until you are satisfied with the size and shape and placement.
16. Use your hot glue gun to secure the ears onto the back of the head.
17. Smile and enjoy your sweet new friend!
You could totally knock out a few of these and have a puppet show! Or give them as gifts! Or do what I did and sit it on a shelf in your craft room so you can smile every time you look at sweet Ellie the Elephant!
27 Responses
I LOVE her!
SUPER cute!! I need to try making one of these.
Oh my gosh! This is adorable! I’ve always wanted to try a few sock animals. It’s the perfect kind of crafting for those “lost” socks!
Thanks for sharing!
~Kim
I do, too 🙂 She’s super sweet – doesn’t eat much and never talks back! LOL!
Thank you Tracie! It’s really very simple – only takes about 15 minutes! Send pics when you do. I’d love to see 🙂
Absolutely! It only requires very basic craft supplies and about 15 minutes of your time – Easy Peasy! Thanks Kim!
I cannot even begin to tell you how cute this is!! ADORABLE!
Hi, Kirsten
Love this project. Perfect for little ones. I’ll have to give this a go. Hope all is well with you and yours. Happy Summer!
Vanessa
This is so cute! For younger kids you could sew on eyes with black thread. I’m pinning!
OMG, Kirsten…this is so stinkin’ cute AND super easy to make! I love the polka dot sock! Fun Fun Fun!
So, so cute!
Cute little elly! Came across via Linky Party!
-Nidhi from http://sunshinendewdrops.blogspot.com
Cute elephant and great tutorial! I love elephants!
Navy Wifey Peters @ Submarine Sunday Link Party
Love this, but I missed something. Where is the rice/beans in this project? I thought the elephant would be stuffed with it, but all I see in the instructions is polyfill for the stuffing.
I agree, I don’t see where the rice or beans get used either.
This is ADORABLE!!!!
I really wish that there was a way to print instructions without all of the added junk. This tutorial is 15 pages and so far I have printed 1/2 of it and it is all junk. Such a waste of paper and ink. But this is really cute, I am looking forward to making these with my residents and donating them to children,
Hi Marissa! I’m so glad you like my sweet little elephant! All of that “junk” that you are referring to took a lot of time to put together to make the post more fun and easier to read. Please understand that a blog post is not meant to be printed. You may consider jotting down the highlights with pen and paper rather than printing the entire post. Or you can simply bookmark it to refer back to as you make your own! Thanks so much!
Oh. My. Word. I stumbled upon this tutorial searching for elephant themed ideas for my daughter’s 3rd birthday party. I just finished making a test one out of a kid’s pink heart print sock. SO cute. My daughter is in love with her new friend. I found that Rainbow Loom rubber bands work really great (I doubled them up) and I didn’t see where to use rice/beans, but assume that is for giving it a little heft in the stuffing if desired? These are going to be the birthday party craft and also a cute “goodie bag” alternative! Thanks for sharing!
Awwww YAY! Sarah, this makes me happy 🙂 My little elephant is still hanging out in my craft room – love it! And yes, I neglected to mention the rice/beans, but it is to put a little junk in the trunk LOL! I’d love for you to email me a picture or two of your little friends! I like to feature these in my newsletter 🙂 Have a fabulous day, and happy birthday to your daughter!
Just print as a PDF and delete the pages that are comments (pgs. 7-15) Also the first page was mostly blank. Then I printed pages 1-6 and selected “Multiple Pages per sheet” choose 2 so you can still read it and see the pictures. Also select back to back. Your end result is only two paper pages. Totally reasonable.