Puppets are fun to make, see, touch, listen to, learn from, and manipulate.  Through bringing a puppet to life, many children also come to life in surprising and delightful ways.  Often children listen and learn more from a puppet than an adult.  Once you become comfortable with puppets, many spontaneous uses will open up.

Mary Freericks and Joyce Segal in their book Creative Puppetry state that “Puppets bring joy and spontaneity … to spark ideas, to impart values, to ease emotional problems, to open up communication.  Bringing a puppet to life helps a child learn.”

Infants: Picture Puppets - Tape a picture of the infant onto a tongue depressor, and use this as a puppet to talk with and about the child.  This way the picture puppet of the infant can be included as a character in a favorite story, song or nursery rhyme.

Toddlers: Food Puppets - Puppets don’t always have to depict things that are alive, such as animals or people.  Children can make food puppets and discuss what foods are good to eat.  Have them glue pictures of fruits and vegetables onto a tongue depressor.  Be sure to include foods from the Four Food Groups, like (1.) Fruits & vegetables, (2.) Grains & cereals, (3.) Meats, fish, nuts & beans, and (4.) Dairy products.  Write a food song using the “Chiquita Banana” tune.  (I’m Chiquita Banana and I’ve come to say fruit and vegetables are healthy so eat five a day.)   Make a grocery store using a large cardboard box as the puppet stage.  Throw a nutrition party for the toddlers by eating real foods of the food puppets they made.

Preschoolers: Happy/Sad Puppets:  These exciting puppets can be easily made from colorful sponges and tongue depressors.  They hold the children’s interest by having a happy face on one side, and a sad face on the other.  Make up a story and ask the children which face should the puppet have?  “A little girl lost her cat. (sad) She looked under the bed and found it (happy) etc.”  Use a story like “Goldilocks and the Three Bears.”  Turn the puppets face when she eats the porridge and its hot or cold (sad), or just right (happy).

The following is a list of puppet-making materials that can be collected and used creatively to make a variety of puppets.

Styrofoam Balls     Tongue Depressors      Cotton Balls     Coffee Filters     Cardboard

Foil                  Socks               Wrapping Paper                   Paper Cups         Leather

Cork                Doilies             Contact Paper                      Paper plates        Yarn

Feathers           Q-Tips             Pipe Cleaners                       Gloves                Fabric

Fringe              Ribbons           Paper Towel Tubes               Paper Bags         Boxes

Beads              Buttons           Styrofoam Meat Trays         Cloths Pins         Sponges

Man is a make-believe animal: he is never so truly himself as when he is acting a part.                                                                                                            (William Hazlitt)