Thanksgiving is a time for families to gather together to give thanks for all their blessings. It’s also a wonderful time for preschool and school age children to learn about our nation’s history.
A fun way to teach children about the Pilgrims and their trip to the new world in the Mayflower and that first Thanksgiving is to use puppets.
Here is a set of Thanksgiving puppets that includes Pilgrims and their ship, Indians (Native Americans) and a turkey puppet.
This is a wonderful plush puppet set.You can also make your own paper Thanksgiving puppets of the Pilgrims and Indians and tell the story of the first settlers to America and how thankful they were after their long journey and that first harsh winter to finally discover the promise and plenty that this new land held.
Here is another wonderful plush Thanksgiving turkey puppet that makes a great gift for Thanksgiving and can also be used to tell a fun Thanksgiving puppet story like A Turkey for Thanksgiving that tells the story of some animal friends who want to have a turkey for Thanksgiving but not to eat, instead he becomes the honored guest at the harvest feast.
You could also act out a Thanksgiving scene with these cute Thanksgiving turkey pilgrim finger puppets.
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Monday, November 22, 2010
Thanksgiving Puppets - Pilgrims, Indians, the Mayflower and a Turkey for Thanksgiving : Preschool Puppets
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Nov.22,2010
Friday, November 12, 2010
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Therapy on a puppet string - The Irish Times - Tue, Nov 02, 2010
Puppetry allows the dramatic distance necessary for children to talk about difficult subjects. Puppets from the Puppet Portal Project.
An enduring source of fun, puppets can also be used to help children deal with emotional difficulties
PUPPETS HAVE long been associated with children. The classic Punch and Judy is still going strong, though its violent overtones may be somewhat dated today. Rainbow , Bosco and Sooty are familiar to an older generation. Puppets abound in current children’s television too, with programmes such as CBeebies’ Big City Park , Penelope K by the Way and Mighty Mites all incorporating them.
While puppets can be both entertaining and fun, practitioners are increasingly seeing their value in teaching and therapy. In the UK, educator and author Ros Bayley has written extensively on the benefits of puppets in education and therapy.
Meanwhile, Dr Lynne Jones, a child psychologist with the International Medical Corps, has taken puppets to Kosovo and regions affected by the 2004 Asian tsunami, working successfully with traumatised children. In Ireland too, puppets are used for both education and therapy.
Helene Hugel runs the Puppet Portal Project, a programme which brings puppetry to paediatric hospital settings. Artists help children to create puppets and the worlds these characters inhabit. Using technology provided by Trinity College, they transmit films to children in other hospitals, thus engaging them in creativity and attempting to allay the isolation children can experience in hospital.
“We are not targeting a specific problem . . . it is about creating a sense of community within the hospital and bringing the soul back into the healing environment,” says Hugel.
Puppetry provides a safe place for children to go – they can go places in their imaginations despite what they might be experiencing in hospital.
“It’s about the child gaining control over their own experience through the characters they make and the stories they tell,” she says. “Hospital can be very much about people doing things to them, so puppetry allows them to develop a world that they can control.”
Siobhan Prendiville is a primary school teacher and play therapist who incorporates puppets into her work. She uses puppets as educational tools to develop the social and emotional wellbeing of her students – tackling issues such as bullying or parental separation.
Puppetry, she says, allows the dramatic distance necessary to talk about difficult subjects and acts as a bridge between projected play (using cars, dolls and so on to create imaginary scenarios) and role play.
As a therapist, Prendiville uses puppets alongside other techniques to deal with bereavement, parental separation or to help children with learning difficulties. They can be used to help kids control their emotions and fears, and deal with separation anxiety or impulsivity. Prendiville believes that puppets can also be useful with teenagers in therapy, as they are attracted to the creative aspect of the medium.
When Prendiville meets a child in therapy, she uses finger puppets to create a story about the child. The puppets give an indirect mode of address and help the child to avoid difficult eye contact. “[A child’s] play is an external representation of their internal world,” she says. “If a child can’t tell you what’s happening, their play can show you.”
Prendiville’s approach is non-directive. However, she finds that children are often attracted to the puppets and will start to role-play their lives in the sessions.
“They can use puppets to externalise what’s happening in their lives, or they can try out new ways of being. For example, a child can learn to say ‘no’ in play. If they can play at saying ‘no’ then they may be able to say ‘no’ in real life.”
Helen Sholdice, also a play therapist, agrees that puppets are invaluable in her work. Parents often approach her with issues such as toilet training, problems at school or marital disharmony.
“Instead of acting out feelings of violence or frustration themselves, they can imbue the puppet with those feelings,” says Sholdice. “If they have a ferocious feeling, for example, and it manifests through the puppet, it can be followed by great relief and joy.”
Sholdice says that often children do not have the sophisticated language to deal with difficult topics and emotions.
“It is natural for children to play and take leaps of fancy. The more you can allow natural play to take place, the more you can return that child to a good place inside,” she says.
“When children feel powerless, they can become tyrannical. Puppetry play can restore feelings of power within a child.”
For more information, contact Helene Hugel at 087-780988, helium.ie;
Siobhan Prendiville at 086-196250
Helen Sholdice at 086-1204781, helen sholdice.com
- via irishtimes.com
Puppets With A Purpose
CLARK — Arthur L. Johnson High School’s Puppetry Club paid a visit to Valley Road School to teach the students about bullying. With the hand-held puppets serving as the actors, the puppeteers used a variety of role-played skits to illustrate to the audience the many different forms of bullying. Children were made aware that simple acts, such as excluding a child from a play group or preventing him from sitting at the same lunch table, is actually bullying. The children were taught some important ways to keep from becoming a bully, how to deal with bullies directly and how to report a bully to a grown-up. Shown are the members of the puppetry club along with their teacher, Brian Klimchak; Sarah Badillo, Guidance Counselor for VRS School; Lisa Dunn, the content area supervisor for English and art; and some VRS students.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010 at 8:58 am and is filed under Clark, Schools. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
How to make puppets with Jim Henson vintage footage 1969 - Preschool Puppets
Here is some excellent vintage footage of the master puppeteer Jim Henson from 1969 where he shows the various different types of puppets you can make.
It is very interesting to see the essence of some of Henson’s favorite muppet characters in these basic puppets. Lots of great ideas here for making puppets for kids, especially the potato head and fruit puppets as well as the classic sock puppet.
Technorati Tags: fruit, how to make puppets, jim henson, muppets, paper puppets, potato head, sock puppet, vintage footage
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Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Halloween Puppets - Halloween Puppet Ideas for Preschoolers - Preschool Puppets
Halloween is a fun time of year. The kids get all excited about dressing up and trick-or-treating and eating all that Halloween candy. It’s also a great time to have fun with puppets.
There are lots of spooky Halloween characters that you can make or buy to perform a Halloween puppet show. Kids love spooky stories. You can get some monster puppets like Frankenstein, Dracula, The Mummy or a Werewolf and act out some silly spooky shows.
Scary graveyard ghost stories or ghosts and goblins in a haunted house with witches and bats are some fun ideas you can put into a Halloween puppet show. You may want to tell some of the classic Halloween stories like Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven or the Tell-Tale Heart or the story of Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman from the Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
You could even do a retro Michael Jackson Thriller puppet show. Zombie puppets would be fun and the possibilities are practically endless. You could make a zombie bride puppet and some zombie bikers.
If you want to go a little less scary you can do a story like the Charlie Brown Great Pumpkin story or a Scooby Doo type mystery. Or just a fall pumpkin patch story with pumpkins, bats and black cats or other furry animals and how they would celebrate Halloween and maybe about them going trick-or-treating.
You could even use puppets to go along with your child’s Halloween costume. Maybe they could go as an alien with three heads and have one of the heads be a puppet head attached to the costume and have a fake arm so that they can use their hand to work the puppet. They could even go as a puppet theatre like a Punch and Judy show.
Of course, kids love the Sesame Street muppet characters and can dress up as them for Halloween. Elmo and Cookie Monster, Abby Cadabby and Grover are fun ideas for Halloween costumes of their favorite puppets pals.
You could have a children’s Halloween party and put on a puppet show with all the creepy monsters or pumpkin pals you want. You can give out little Halloween finger puppets as party favors or to trick-or-treaters in addition to or instead of candy.
Puppets are a wonderful addition to your child’s life whether it be at school, home, place of worship, or theatre. Special occasions and holidays can also be a great time to use puppets to entertain children of all ages. Halloween can be one of those times too.
Spooky Shadow Puppets for Halloween - Preschool Puppets
Here is an easy craft idea for some spooky Halloween shadow puppets that you can make with your preschoolers.
Technorati Tags: halloween puppet, halloween puppet show, preschool puppets, puppets for kids, shadow puppets
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Friday, September 17, 2010
The Princess and The Frog - A Preschool Puppet Show : Preschool Puppets
Here are some puppets I made for a senior project in college. I got them out again for my kids and we put on a puppet show. I’m glad I get the chance to play with them again with my preschoolers.
Here is a picture of the princess with her ball by the well.
This is a picture of the frog sitting on top of the well.
This is a close up of the frog puppet. Here is really a prince. Can you see the lace on his neck?
Here is a picture of the well prop. I made it from a plastic tub for margarine or something like that. It is painted to look like a well in a garden. There is a hole in the middle for the frog to peek out of and the ball to fall down into the well.
This is the king puppet. He is dressed in gold and mauve.
This is the princess puppet. She has a pink and gold dress and a little bit of mauve on her headpiece.
This is the maid puppet. She works in the palace.
Here is the handsome prince, who was once the frog.
Here is a video of the puppet show we did with these fairy tale character puppets. It’s the story of the princess and the frog and how the princess makes a promise to the frog and what happens next. You can make or buy these fairy tales character puppets and put on a puppet show of your own with your preschoolers.
Melissa and Doug make some great puppets. Here’s one that is a make your own princess puppet.
Melissa & Doug Make Your Own Princess Puppet
Have fun!
Technorati Tags: frog puppet, king puppet, make your own princess puppet, preschool puppets, prince puppet, princess puppet, puppet show for kids, the princess and the frog, well
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Change of Seasons – A Puppet Show for the First Day of Autumn : : Preschool Puppets
Here is a fun puppet project idea for preschoolers to do in the classroom or at home to celebrate the first day of autumn and learn more about the seasons.
You can put on a simple puppet show about how trees grow and change over the four seasons. You can show children how the tree grows in the spring and the buds and flowers appear. Then in summer the sun, rain and soil bring nourishment to the tree and the leaves get full and green. When autumn comes the leaves change color and fall to the ground as the tree prepares to store energy for the winter ahead.
You can have each child make their own tree stick puppet with the different color leaves or put on a show for them with a tree puppet that is a plush hand puppet.
Tree Puppet – Four Seasons
Some other ideas to add to your puppet show are to have a sun puppet, a rain cloud puppet, a bird puppet that can sing in the tree or a winter wind and snow cloud puppet.
Adding some music to your presentation can give the children an appreciation for classical music. A good choice for this show is Vivaldi’s Four Seasons the Autumn movement.
Have fun!
Technorati Tags: change of seasons, fall, fall leaves, leaves, preschool puppets, puppets for kids, rain, sun, teach seasons, tree puppet
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Sunday, September 5, 2010
How to Sew Bath Mitt Puppets: Cute Animal Washcloths to Make for Kids
How to Sew Bath Mitt Puppets
Cute Animal Washcloths to Make for Kids
Nov 6, 2008 Christy Jones
You can download free patterns for six different bath mitt puppets, including a duck, bunny, bear, dog, cat, and sheep, from Puppetpub. Although it’s easiest to sew the puppets by machine using a zigzag stitch, you can also sew them by hand.
To make one bath mitt puppet, you’ll need two washcloths, or one hand towel sized dish cloth. You can often find inexpensive washcloths at discount stores and sales.
To add faces and pink ears to the bath mitt puppets, you’ll also need scraps of non-raveling fabric, such as fleece or velour. You can also buy cheap pieces of colored felt at most fabric and craft stores.
Supplies:
- two washcloths
- matching thread
- scraps of dark fabric for eyes
- scraps of pink fabric for nose and ears (optional)
- scrap of orange fabric for duck bill (optional)
- pins
- scissors
- sewing needle
- sewing machine
Cut Out the Bath Mitt Puppets
- Download, print, and cut out the free bath mitt puppet patterns.
- Line up the lower edge of the bath mitt puppet body with the finished edge of the washcloth or towel.
- Pin the pattern to the washcloth and cut around it. Cut a second bath mitt puppet body the same way.
Note: If your material doesn’t have a finished edge, you’ll need to zigzag stitch along the lower edge of each puppet piece, or hem the lower edges.
Make the Bath Mitt Puppet Faces
- Cut two small squares of dark fabric the size you want the eyes. Round off the corners of the squares to turn them into small circles.
- Position the eyes on the face of one of the bath mitt puppet pieces.
- Cut a nose from pink fabric, or a duck bill from orange fabric, and position it on the puppet’s face.
- Hand stitch the eyes and nose or duck bill to the puppet’s face using a whipstitch, or stitch around them using a narrow zigzag stitch on a sewing machine.
Make the Bath Mitt Puppet Ears
- Cut two ears from scraps of leftover washcloth fabric. Flip the pattern over and cut two more ears for the other side of the puppet’s head.
- Cut one inner ear from pink fabric (optional) for the bunny, bear, cat, or sheep puppets. Flip the pattern over and cut a second pink inner ear. Position the pink ears on two of the washcloth ear pieces, and zigzag stitch around the edges of the pink fabric.
- Place the ears with the pink on top of the plain ear pieces and pin them together. Zigzag stitch around the edges of each ear to hold the layers together.
Sew the Bath Mitt Puppets
- Place the front and back of the bath mitt puppet together, lining them up along the edges, so that both the front and back are right side out. Insert the lower edges of the ears, if any, between the layers of the puppet’s head.
- Pin the front and back of the puppet together. Make sure to catch the ears in the pins.
- Zigzag stitch around the sides and top of the bath mitt puppet, close to the edges, leaving the lower edge open.
You can use the bath mitts during tub time just like regular washcloths, or you can use them as puppets to tell a story. Kids can also play with the bath mitt puppets as they learn to wash themselves and enjoy time in the tub.
Copyright Christy Jones. Contact the author to obtain permission for republication.
For more great ideas on puppets for preschoolers visit http://www.preschool-puppets.com
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Puppet Show Script for Kids - Jungle Boy
Dinosaur Puppets – Animal Puppets – A Blast from the Past – Full Body, Hand and Finger Puppets : : Preschool Puppets
Many children are fascinated by dinosaurs. They are big and scary and interesting animals. It’s fun to discover what things used to be like millions of years ago and how different creatures roamed the earth back then. A good way to teach children more about dinosaurs is with dinosaur puppets.
There are lots of different dinosaur puppets you can find and play with. There’s the ferocious T-Rex puppet with his big scary teeth or the more mild-mannered plant eater like a Triceratops puppet. A flying dinosaur puppet like a Pterodactyl Puppet or a cute baby dinosaur puppet just hatching out of its’ egg are good ideas for puppets that children will enjoy.
Children can put on a puppet show or just pretend to be archeologists or that they live back in caveman times and live among the different dinosaurs. Anyway they decide to play with them, dinosaur puppets are fun, exciting and creative puppets for kids.
Technorati Tags: animal puppets, baby dinosaur egg puppet, dinosaur finger puppets, dinosaur puppets, folkmanis, full body puppet, hand puppet, melissa and doug, preschool puppets, pterodactyl puppet, puppets for kids, t-rex puppet, triceratops puppet
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Thursday, August 26, 2010
Kids Song Puppet Pals share playing ball to a new song Silly ball in this puppet show Preschool Puppets
A puppet show and a fun and original kids song about a silly ball that goes out of control. In the beginning of the skit the puppets share playing ball nicely together but once the ball becomes silly and goes out of control they have a hard time catching it. This is new music by Puppet Rescue that helps teach toddlers social skills through puppetry while being entertained.
Duration : 0:2:28
Technorati Tags: baby, Baby Einstein puppets, ball, children, education, entertainment, family, fun, funny, game, kids, kindergarden, learning, like, muppet, music, playing, pre-school, preschool puppets, puppet, puppet show, puppetry, puppets, puppets for kids, safe, share, sharing, show, silly, skills, social, song, songs, toddler
Tags : baby, Baby Einstein puppets, ball, children, education, entertainment, family, fun, funny, game, kids, kindergarden, learning, like, muppet, music, playing, pre-school, preschool puppets, puppet, puppet show, puppetry, puppets, puppets for kids, safe, share, sharing, show, silly, skills, social, song, songs, toddler
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3 Responses to “Kids song – Puppet Pals share playing ball to a new song “Silly ball” in this puppet show”
puppetrescue says:
Glad you enjoyed! …
Glad you enjoyed! Thanks for watching.
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