Family Matters
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Communicating Puppetry
by Janet Tubbs
uppetry
is one of the oldest forms of entertainment, evolving
from the ever-popular Punch and Judy of traveling shows
to the sophisticated Muppets.
This art is not
only entertaining, 
but is highly educational and
therapeutic since children respond to puppets when
conversation with an adult is difficult or impossible.
Puppets become non-judgmental confidants of children who
are eager to express their feelings, but hesitate because
of past experiences with adults who may have been
offended, shocked, hurt, or disinterested. Puppets
display none of these reaction, so children talk freely
to them. And, they don't tell secrets.
These little people can be used to help teach young children since almost every child will respond to a question or direction from a puppet. Young boys and girls forget everything when watching a puppet show and focus entirely on the characters. The message of the script is absorbed along the way.
Puppetry and
role play are 
natural companions. There's no
better way of reaching children than through these
non-threatening and enjoyable "games." Parents
and teachers can talk, preach, and punish boys and girls
who simply don't want to hear any more lectures on
manners or morals. However, one puppet show or one
session of role playing may accomplish more than any
other effort to convey messages of truthfulness, peer
pressure resistance, decision making, or other areas of
concern to children, parents, educators and therapists.
In therapy an interesting shift takes place in the child's response depending on who is holding the puppets.
For example:
Mom is using two puppets and putting on a little show to help Rebecca learn about how "Angry Andrew" was able to control his anger.
Rebecca is a passive observer.
Mom gives Rebecca one puppet and as they repeat the show, Rebecca can readily relate to Andrew and enjoys her part in the story.
Rebecca is an active/passive participant.
Mom gives her daughter both puppets. Now Rebecca has no one else to ask the questions or set the stage. She's entirely on her own and needs to create dialogue between the two puppets. At this point, true emotions usually surface and the cause of her anger will become clear.
Rebecca is now an active participant in identifying her anger and often is able to deal with it by verbalizing the way she feels through the puppets.
Puppetry is fun. It allows the puppeteer to become a writer, actor, director, educator, and friend to the audience. The more childlike you are, the more readily you can relate to, and communicate with, the children. You need to be as spontaneous as the children are in their play if you hope to communicate with them.
Puppets can be as inexpensive as drawing faces on your finger to $100 hand-crafted, life-like people. Lunch bags are easily transformed into puppets by drawing a mouth on the fold, which then opens and closes, and adding eyes, yarn hair and a nose.
Styrofoam eggs
are great for pressing
store-bought eyes, nose and
mouth. You can color popcorn with tempera paint, and
press the pointed side into the egg for features.
You don't need to spend a lot to make a puppet—they're only a tool for the message. In fact, the simpler the better, as children are apt to become frustrated when confronted with a project they feel is beyond their ability.
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Janet Tubbs is founder and president of Children’s Resource Center, in Scottsdale, Arizona. She is also one of the Founders of VegSource. Her column, Family Matters, is a regular feature of VegSource On-Line Magazine.
You can visit Janet's home page by clicking on this link: