PICK A PUPPET
February 2016
No matter how old you are, something magical happens when you put a puppet on your hand! Puppets can be used to capture children’s attention, encourage language, enhance songs, and reinforce rhymes. Sure, you can buy a puppet, but wouldn’t it be more fun to cut the top and bottom off a cardboard box, put a sock on your hand, and disguise your voice as the sock comes out of the box and you say, “Hello!” Let’s face it, puppets are as much fun for adults as they are for children. I often tell teachers, “Children don’t need all that STUFF! Plain vanilla is just fine!” Their imaginations and creativity will grow when we give them simple materials and let them fill in the details.
This month you’ll discover dozens of puppets that you and your students can make from ordinary objects like cups, popsicle sticks, envelopes, paper plates, spoons, lunch bags, and construction paper. Your students will be motivated to use their puppets when they sing the songs and say the rhymes that go along with them.
STEAM AHEAD WITH PUPPETS
Many schools are embracing the A in STEAM. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics) Puppets can provide a tangible way to fuse art and creativity with academics. Think about how you can challenge your students to create puppets to teach a science lesson, retell a story, describe their favorite character in a book, solve a problem….the possibilities are endless. And, think about it. If you were a kid, would you rather write a report or make a puppet to teach the information to your classmates?
Enjoy!!!
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