Abstract:
A garment or dress having detachable pockets on each side of the front of the garment. The pockets can be used in their normal fashion for retaining objects placed therein by the wearer or can be detached from the garment to be used as hand puppets by the wearer.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     The present application claims priority to Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/581,733, filed on Jun. 21, 2004 and which is incorporated herein in its entirety. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is directed to clothing, particularly children&#39;s clothing having an entertainment feature as a part thereof. More specifically, the invention is directed to an article of clothing for a small child or toddler having pockets which are also detachable hand puppets for the child to play with. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Most parents of small children know how difficult a long car ride, train ride or flight can be with one or more small children. Small children are easily bored and when bored they often become unruly. Parents attempt to curtail this by trying to keep the children occupied for as much of the duration of the trip as possible. Parents often bring books for the children to look at, coloring books for the children to draw in, as well as toys to play with. 
     Additional ways for parents to keep children occupied and allow children to entertain themselves are always welcome. The present invention provides an additional way for children to keep themselves occupied and enjoy themselves. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention comprises a pull-over type or wrap-around garment or dress to be worn by a child and having pockets on each side of the front of the garment. The pockets can be used in their normal fashion for retaining objects placed therein by the child. Additionally, the pockets may be detachable from the garment, such as via hook and loop type fasteners such as Velcro®. 
    
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURE 
         FIG. 1  illustrates one embodiment of the garment in accordance with the present invention showing frontal and back views of the garment and having a giraffe motif; 
         FIG. 2  illustrates one embodiment of the garment in accordance with the present invention showing the pockets detached from the garment and being worn on the hands of the garment wearer and having a frog motif; 
         FIG. 3  illustrates the garment having a frog motif as shown I  FIG. 2  but not being worn by the wearer; 
         FIG. 4  illustrates another embodiment of the garment in accordance with the present invention and having a mouse motif; and 
         FIG. 5  illustrates another embodiment of the garment in accordance with the present invention and having a lady bug motif. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       FIG. 1  shows one preferred embodiment of the invention comprising a garment  10  having a front surface  12  and a back surface  14  and having pockets  16   a ,  16   b  on the front surface  12 . In the embodiment illustrated in  FIG. 1 , pockets  16   a ,  16   b  are shown to have a shape in form of a giraffe. The invention is not intended to be limited in this regard and pockets  16   a .  16   b  may be in the form of a variety of different animals, characters and the like. In general, the shape or character of the pockets  16   a ,  16   b  will correlate with the overall coloring and motif of the garment  10 . For example, in  FIG. 1 , pockets  16   a ,  16   b  are in the shape and color of giraffes, while garment  10  has the appearance of a jungle. In  FIGS. 2 and 3 , pockets  16  the shape of frogs, and garment  10  has a frog-like motif as shown.  FIG. 4  illustrates garment  10  with pockets  16   a ,  16   b  having the appearance of mice.  FIG. 5  illustrates garment  10  with pockets  16   a ,  16   b  having the appearance of lady bugs. 
     The pockets  16   a ,  16   b  are detachable from garment  10 . Advantageously, pockets  16   a ,  16   b  are connected with garment  10  via hook-and-loop type fasteners, commonly known as Velcro®.  FIG. 2  illustrates an embodiment of the present invention in which pockets  16   a ,  16   b  are removed from the garment and worn on the hands of the garment wearer (indicated by X). In this embodiment it is seen that pockets  16   a ,  16   b , although detached from garment,  10 , are nevertheless connected to garment  10  by an attachment element, such as via cords  20   a ,  20   b  which are connected to garment  10  at points  22   a ,  22   b . Cords  20   a ,  20   b  prevent the loss of pockets  16   a ,  16   b  by the wearer. In alternative embodiments, points  22   a ,  22   b  may be detachable via hook-and-loop type fasteners, snaps, buttons, zippers and the like, so that garment  10  can be worn without pockets  16   a ,  16   b . When the wearer&#39;s hands are inserted in pockets  16   a ,  16   b  and pockets  16   a ,  16   b  are removed from garment  10  by the wearer, pockets  16   a ,  16   b  can be used as hand puppets, which allow a child to entertain him or herself, or to play with other children wearing a similar garment and who have their own hand puppets. When the wearer no longer desires to play with the hand puppets (pockets  16   a ,  16   b ), they are reattached to garment  10 . The hook-and-loop type fasteners are illustrated in  FIG. 2  as  24   a ,  24   b . As previously stated, the invention is not, however, limited to the use of hook-and-loop type fasteners to connect pockets  116   b  to garment  10 , and other connection means are contemplated, such as but not limited to, buttons, snaps and zippers. 
     The present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiment illustrated in  FIG. 1  and other embodiments are contemplated. Garment  10  ma be a unitary garment that is pulled over the wearer&#39;s head, or it may have snaps, buttons, hook-and-loop type fasteners or tie strings in the shoulder areas (indicated as  18 ), or a zipper or tie strings on back surface  14 . Additionally, garment  10  may be a halter-type garment having a front surface that may be tied around the wearer&#39;s back and/or neck. 
     Furthermore, although it is believed that garment  10  will be predominantly worn by children, the invention is not limited in this respect and adults may have occasion to where this type of garment as well.