Sandy Arnold compiled a
very detailed variety of posts on storytelling in the library with puppets. Below
are a few highlights. Two websites you might find useful are Danielle's Place which gives good
directions for making your own puppets, and Jan Brett's website which includes
graphics to make into stick puppets to tell THE MITTEN.
1. PK-3rd grade students love puppets.
2. Puppets with
soft moveable mouths work best when used to give directions, ask
questions, or read from the book...
3. Using puppets
to help kids learn to read and pronounce words can be a good tool.
4. Having the kids make
up voices for the puppets can make it more fun for them to learn words or
scripts for telling stories.
5. Having the
puppet "whisper" in your ear instead of talking out loud to the kids
while teaching can help them stay quiet and focused while they're trying to
hear the puppet talk to you.
6. If you
want to use the puppet just for yourself to teach and give instructions, don't
let the kids hold and manipulate it. That can make the puppet lose some of the
"magic" that it has for the kids.
7. Hold the puppet
up so everyone can see.
8. Don't turn your
back on the audience.
9. Hold the puppet
still so everyone can see it.
10. Stick
puppets can be made by gluing pictures to popsicle sticks.
11. Puppets can be
made with felt, paperbacks, socks, pictures, popsicle sticks, yarn (for hair),
googly eyes, play clothing, etc....
12. Involve the
audience as trees or wind to help them stay focused.
13. Use finger
puppets to have more characters per person.
14. To draw the
kids' interest, use puppet theaters.
15. When having
the kids put on their own skits, find scripts that are very familiar to the
kids or repeat often so the kids won't have to focus on the lines as much as
manipulating their characters.
