Looking for a quick and easy cat toy DIY that’s just as fun for you to have around as it is for your cat? Want something so simple, you and your favourite toddler could craft it together? Well I’ve got a great one for you today!
Take a look at my new favourite homemade toy for my cat; DIY stuffed socks that took me all of 5 minutes to put together. Made with nothing special – things everyone already has lying around the house!
Avery seems to have a bit of confusion around the toy, but at least there’s some interest.
Now let’s dive into the instructions. In case you need a walk through (chances are you’ve figured out just by looking at this thing how to make it yourself!), start with:
- A sock you don’t care about (preferably an ankle sock to get the same look I did)
- Something to stuff your sock with (I chose packing paper I got in an Amazon delivery), and
- A sharpie or other permanent marker (this one’s optional; in case you want to draw little x’s for eyes or anything else on these lil’ guys).
Step 1 is of course to grab that sock and stuff it!
As a heads up, I find the best thing to stuff these lil’ fish with is that paper you get out of newly bought shoes that helped the shoes keep their shape while they were being transported. It’s the absolute perfect size and density, and the crinkle sound from this type of paper makes my cat wired. In my opinion, anything that can make a noise like this will be so much more kitty-friendly than anything made of soft, quiet stuffing like cotton balls or pieces of clothing. But experiment with different types of stuffing to see what your own cat likes best!
Get it all in there and if you need to add more, do so!
Once you’re done stuffing to the point you’re happy with, tie a simple knot at the base of the stuffed area. Try to make sure you’ve kept enough room for your knot and didn’t over-stuff, though! Especially if you have an ankle sock to work with like I do. Leaving quite a bit of room at the end will help keep a nice looking tail for your sock fishy.
Don’t worry too much if you’re not sure whether you’ve overstuffed, as tying a knot is of course not final and you can always untie the knot and re-stuff based on your new preferences.
I like to twist the sock over and over before I finally tie the knot into the sock fish. It helps me see where the end of the stuffing is and also helps me to tie a tighter, cleaner knot.
All tied up and this is how our DIY fishy looks:
If you’d like to make this one heck of a lot more interesting for you (kitty won’t even bat an eye at the extra bling) take some time to draw little x’s for eyes, or some circles. You can even add a mouth or scales if you want, though I took the minimalist route and stuck to just some x’s (that black line was already part of the orange sock design).
Introducing the fish to kitty seems to be a success.
Though, let’s be honest, my cat needs me to be a lot more hands-on with toy-playing than that (he’s quite a lazy cat)! So peeping the tail under a rug to pique his attention it is.
Avery loves “killing” this little fishy by flopping over on his side and kicking it repeatedly with his hind feet. He’s also chased it and played a short round of soccer with it. Not for too long, of course. After all, he’s got to make mum work for his exercise!
If your cat likes this DIY as much as you do, you might want to take the time to make many different fishies – using different colours and styles of socks, and different stuffings of course, to see which combinations your cat likes best.
My particular favourite of the two I’ve made was definitely the orange sock: it looks like a dead (oversized) goldfish to me! If these are a hit with Avery, I definitely think I’ll try grabbing some pink socks to make a salmon for him (that I’ll certainly want to draw some scales onto)!
No short to the amount of creativity you can unleash on this simple DIY.
Well that’s it! Hope you liked my sock stuffed fish homemade cat toy! If you did like it, let me know, and I’ll share these types of quick and easy DIY toys more often!
If you try this toy out, let me know how your cats reacted and what kind of a look you went with. Oh, and if you’ve got pictures of your DIY shared on the net, leave a link to your picture in the comments!
I can’t wait to try this. I’m going to use cereal bags for the crinkle stuffing. (Food grade and waterproof. You could wash the fish if needed)
This was a lifesaver!!!! My 5 month old stray does the “teeth grab/bunny kick” thing on my arms and legs all the time, so I used a longer sock instead of an ankle sock. I didn’t have any of the packing paper, so honestly I just collected pop tart and protein bar wrappers and stuffed them in, sprinkled some catnip, and tied it! It’s not the most beautiful thing in the world but he loves it! I’m definitely about to make a ton of these in different sizes and maybe attach some ribbons or something. Thank you!!!
Great
I racquetball works really well inside.
Thank you for this sock fish idea!
I made two balls out of wax paper, and stuffed them in a toddler-sized sock. I could hear the paper crinkle as my cat was batting the fish around and clawing it.
Very nice idea !
I was just finishing doing it, and she wanted to grab it
She is really happy with it !
This would be great! I have to try this.
I have made these for years. All the cats love them. I do not put paper in them since they tend to slobber on them so much. They get stolen and stashed in unusual places.
That’s pretty adorable! Wish Avery was the type to hide toys in unusual places! Would love to come across a kitty stash of toys haha.
What do you use? I’ve got a kitten that loves socks! I figured I’d put some cat nip into it too (hes’s the only cat of my 3 that likes catnip, In fact, he won’t eat any cat treats or people food so I give the bigger 2 treats and the baby some cat nip!) Thanks in advance!!
What do you put if not paper?
a fun idea!:)
Thanks, Tanja! 🙂