As a project for seniors in the development unit of Jessica Metz's AP Psychology class, students completed the “sock baby” project, designed to simulate parenthood with a baby doll constructed from socks. Students were responsible for their babies for a week, where they also had to take pictures to later turn in about their sock babies' lives.
Babies “came to life” when students brought socks to class to fill with stuffing, as well as hair ties or rubber bands to shape their bodies and heads, the students then drew a face. The babies were also given names by their “parents.”, and birth certificates were filled out to be displayed by Metz’s door.
These student parents also selected their home life situation and how the baby came to be. Some chose to be in a healthy marriage, while others chose adoption or surrogates as their origin.
“The Human Development unit is one of my favorite units in general, but seeing the excitement of my students as they make their babies is always enjoyable. I also really love how many teachers in the building have taken part in the project by creating things such as "daycares" in their classrooms for the babies,” NHS AP Psychology teacher Metz said.
Some students enjoyed caring for their babies, and found it easy to treat them as their own, real baby. Many found it fun to make sure they were always watched after, and even gave them “playdates” with friends' babies. They made sure to take pictures of everything their baby did, which would later go into a slideshow as proof of how they treated their babies.
“I really loved this project because I was able to use my imagination while learning about the crucial milestones and behaviors in babies. Having to carry around my child everyday was a little challenging but made me appreciate the work parents do everyday,” NHS senior Sara Heinen said.
Others found caring for the baby to be difficult, and struggled to care for it as they would a real baby. These sock babies were often found lying on tables, abandoned on the floors, or even being thrown around rooms. One baby was even left on a bus, which was posted about in the Google Classroom so it could be collected by its parent.
“There was a student who left their baby on the bus, the bus driver brought it in and the main office returned it to me. Another issue that sometimes comes up is if a student is absent for a few days they need to make up those days with their sock babies,” Metz said.
People who did not directly participate in the project also had experiences with the babies, as they became a relevant part of the week for even unrelated classes.
“On the first day that people had their babies, someone walked into one of my classes, and took my friend's baby and started slamming it on the table. This was just on the first day, and it was crazy to see how fast people were to turn on the babies,” NHS senior Bennett Quinn said.
Most people found themselves somewhere in the middle, having times where they had fun with their sock baby, and other times where they found it to be an inconvenience. These babies got taken care of occasionally, but maybe just long enough to get a photo.
“I thought it was annoying to carry it around, because I kept almost forgetting it everywhere, or forgetting to take pictures of it. But, she was really cute, and did show me how responsible you would have to be to watch over a baby 24/7,” NHS senior Maddie Griffin said.
The concept of a “sock baby” project has been going on for years, though many courses in different schools do it very differently. Some use an egg as the baby, so it is actually fragile like a real baby, though this is not very popular as it can cause a lot of mess. Certain programs also have baby dolls that actually cry and need to be fed like a real baby.
“When I was in high school we did the same type of thing in my child development class. We had hard-boiled eggs that we kept in milk cartons as bassinets,” NHS English teacher Marc Kenney said. “I would love to say it prepared me for the long road of actually being a parent but surprisingly it did not…”
The final prompts require students to write about the various development stages of a real human as well as a series of photos from their sock baby experience.
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