One year for Christmas my mother made my children a puppet theatre along with a whole bag full of puppets. My children loved them. (My girls especially loved the princess, unicorn, knight, and dragon). They have spent many rainy and snowy days making up puppet shows that they then present to an audience of one, me.
My son’s first puppet-show he wrote himself went something like this: “The little boy went to the zoo. He saw the tiger. The tiger got out of his cage and chased the boy. The boy got away. The zookeeper put the tiger back in the cage.”
Puppet shows are great for a number of reasons:
- They help your child use their imaginations as they create stories for the characters.
- Children use their memories as they reenact familiar stories like “The Three Bears” or “Little Red Riding Hood.”
- Playing with puppets helps teach the basic outline of a story. The story my son made up had a problem and a solution.
- Children learn how to tell a story and be comfortable expressing it.
You can make simple puppets my cutting a puppet shape out of felt and then sewing or gluing the two pieces around the edge. Then use felt, material, markers, and yarn to create the facial details and clothes. You can also make puppets out of paper bags, but these tend to not last as long.
All you need for a puppet theatre is a small table and a blanket. You can set the table close to the wall and drape a blanket over it to hide the puppeteers. If you want your children could make simple scenery that could be hung on the wall behind the table.
So pop some popcorn, pull up a chair, and allow your children to entertain you for a change.