Using Puppetry as a Teaching Tool

written by: Pam Cannon edited by: Tania Cowling updated: 7/12/2012
Using puppetry in teaching makes for one of the most enjoyable forms of learning for students of
all ages. From simple sock puppets to the more sophisticated marionettes; discover why puppetry
as a teaching tool is important in language development and communication skills.

Puppetry in Teaching
Puppetry as a teaching tool provides teachers with one of the most inexpensive aids in the
classroom. The benefits from puppets are many. They allow children to escape into an imaginary
world. They are able to use puppets towork out
their own emotional problems. The puppet

acts as a mask behind which the child is able to hide. They can be used across the curriculum in
projects and crafts. Children learn to co-operate when working in a small group to produce their
own puppet play. There are many opportunities for sequencing, organizing, verbalizing, sorting
information and gaining self-confidence.

Puppetry Across the Curriculum

In math the task may be to find out the number that comes after five. For the child who is confident
of the answer the puppet would tell the child "You are correct. Well done !" For the child who is not
sure the puppet (in the child's hand and voice) would give an answer and the teacher could use
humor telling the puppet "You are having a little joke with us. You know that the number that
comes after five is six. It's a good job you have your friend here to help you out" These kinds of
scenarios take the sting out of wrong answers and give the struggling child a voice to hide behind.
Chants and songs provide wonderful opportunities to use puppets. Provide a clean sock for each
student and ask them to pull it over their hand and arm with the heel on top of their hand.
Demonstrate how to make a mouth by pushing some of the sock into their fist. Move fingers and
make the mouth talk. Suggest that the puppets reply to each other chanting statements e.g. Who
likes me? (Puppets reply: My friend). Who is kind to me? (Puppets reply: My friend) Who helps me?
(Puppets reply: My friend)

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Your class has been chosen to take part in the morning announcements, or in an assembly.
Introduce the class to announcements through a puppet. Ask each student to draw a picture of
himself or herself. Color and cut out the pictures and attach to Popsicle sticks. Practice the
announcements with each child holding up their puppet.
Use a puppet to demonstrate good health habits e.g. the puppet sneezes. Ask students what the
puppet should do so that germs are not spread. Give the puppet a Kleenex to use.
Provide pairs of students with a puppet each. Encourage them to talk to each other, through the
puppets, about bullying. Often children are not comfortable talking about an incident that may
have happened to them, but, through the puppet, they are able to act it out.

Puppets, Puppets, Puppets

Use the pattern for the most basic of hand puppets to create many characters as you need them.
Attach pie plates or paper plates to rulers or sticks for quick and easy stick puppets.

Use the cardboard rolls from paper towels to create "throwaway" puppets.
Paper bags make puppets with mouths - decorate with scraps of felt and yarn.
Simple marionette puppets can be made by drawing a large figure on stiff card. Cut off the head,
arms and legs. Re-attach each piece with a brad fastener. Attach a separate string to each of the
parts (you can attach the free ends to a coat hanger). Then pull each string individually to see the
puppet move.

Conclusion
Using puppetry in your teaching provides opportunities for children to express themselves in many
different forms. What an ideal vehicle for language across the curriculum. Using puppetry as a
teaching tool is a cost effective bargain!

Puppetry as a Language for

Teachers
The language of puppetry is a good language for teachers. A teacher works with other
human beings in order to facilitate their acquisition of knowledge. She can be an
important influence in the lives of her students for she has the potential to create the
point of reference for the students experience of learning. Establishing various avenues
of communication in the classroom is vital to the process of learning, and puppetry can
provide such an avenue, which would be accessible from many side streets.
Puppetry can be an excellent teaching tool in many different aspects and topics taught in
the classroom. Some such instances include:

Puppetry provides a safe haven for communication. If the student does not feel
safe expressing his feelings, his experiences or his questions, his curiosity may be
suppressed. Curiosity is the basic element for learning. If it is not present,
learning cannot happen. Puppetry provides an alternative, safe form of expression
as it transfers ownership of what is said to the puppet. The puppet can say
whatever needs to be said without implicating the puppeteer in the eyes of the
audience.

Puppetry enables experiential learning, learning which is retained in the being of

the learner, not merely stored in the brain. In 450 B.C., Confucius said, Tell me,
and I will forget. Show me, and I may remember. Involve me, and I will
understand. Puppetry requires involvement, and it makes the experience fun.

Planning, designing, and performing a puppet show require a community effort. It

requires group cooperation and the building of a sense of we. This coming
together for a common cause is another example of experiential learning.

Hopefully, it can provide a good basis for the understanding of belonging;

whether in an immediate sense, such as family or in a global sense, such as to
the family of man.

Puppetry requires encountering and experiencing many art forms, which in turn
can enhance the learning experience. For example, creating a puppet, a form of
the visual arts, can heighten self-appreciation. The artist may be proud of his
ability to create a visual representation that is pleasing to him and to others. The
dramatic arts can help an appreciation of others evolve. This can happen when
using puppetry in such scenarios as role-playing or problem solving situations or
in enactment of historical or current events. It involves refinement of the written
language in preparing scripts. Searching for and finding the right music for a
puppetry presentation establishes a connection with nonverbal communication.
Music is universal and can burrow a path to the soul.