Puppets & Plays

Puppet Handouts

STICK PUPPETS

Children can use puppets extensively for dramatization and for language development.

Stick puppets can be made by children from four years on. As they get more experienced and older, they find ways of elaborating and refining this basic puppet. Older children can make shadow puppets and jointed puppets. Young children put the pieces together according to the developmental stages they are in. The process of thus symbolizing a person or animal helps them in developing the ability to symbolize with other materials.

Materials

1) Cardboard from old shirt board backs of writing pads or old cartons.

2) all sorts of collage materials, fabrics of many textures and patterns, scraps of yarn, buttons, wood shavings, etc. You will need a stapler (optional), glue and scissors. Sticks can be gathered in the park.

In preparation the teacher cuts on a paper cutter pieces of cardboard in three categories. It is important to have choices within each category. The sizes suggested below are suggestions only. Sometimes you may want them larger or smaller.

Big Cardboard pieces (for bodies)

Little pieces (for heads)

Long skinny pieces (for legs, arms, tails, etc.)

Procedure

1) The teacher asks the children, "How can you put these pieces together to make a person or an animal?"

2) The children choose their own pieces of cardboard, arrange them the way they want them and then glue them together.

3) Each child chooses collage materials and glues them to both sides on his person or animal. It amuses some children to make them different on each side!

4) Apply stick to the base under the collage material. It is best to glue it and then put apiece of tape on it. It should dry more than an hour before being played with. Therefore it is a good idea to glue on the stick just before lunch or before going home.

Puppets & Plays

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Saturday, January 5, 2013

Plays with our papier mache puppets