Learning With Puppets

Puppets!  If you've been reading my blog for some time now, you would know that we love them.  My children love to paint theaters and act out shows for the neighbors.  Our library has such a great collection as well. Often, I'll catch my girls making their own puppets and writing shows. 



We have quite the collection, so they have been great for not only inspiring creativity, but for teaching new concepts or preparing the kids for new experiences. Mom (that's me!) even had the opportunity to teach Bible stories using puppets to young children this summer- so fun!

Below you will find a variety of ways that we've used puppets...

Puppets and Conflict Resolution
5 Ways to Prepare Your Child for the Dentist
Making Puppets- Ideas!
Alien Invasion
Interview with an Animal

Peanut's dragon puppet- fun activity we did while teaching

about the Chinese New Year! Goodness, she's just a little squirt in this picture.

When I was a child, I was fascinated with Marionette puppets- remember the ones with the strings that you would control from the top?  Wouldn't this be a fun craft to do with our older children?

Family Fun: Make a Marionette

The video below shows how we've used puppets to enrich little man when he was just a tiny little guy! Love watching videos of the kids when they were just babies... tear!

Finger Play/Puppet Ideas for Baby

What are some creative ways that

you've used puppets?

Jen

The above photo of the Marionette puppet is from Family Fun.

The Baby Times! 3rd Edition

Welcome back to The Baby Times! This week, Sunshine shares a finger play using a puppet with our little man. Getting the kids involved with the baby seems to help with feelings of jealousy. It helps them to bond and to feel part of taking care of him. Enjoy the simple finger play- Ten Little Bunnies!




Other ideas for counting finger plays-

Ten little bumble bees go BUZZ, BUZZ, BUZZ!(bumble bee puppet?)

Ten little bubbles go POP,POP,POP! (blow bubbles for your little one)

The book pictured below looks super cute! Haven't read it yet, but it looks like it would tie in nicely with this activity.

"One little bunny drumming.......Boom! Boom!"

Enjoy your Tuesday with your little ones!

Jen

The Baby Times! 2nd Edition
The Baby Times! 1st Edition

Interview with an Animal

Lately my girls have been getting into creative writing, especially my six year old. She loves making up stories, writing menus, etc. and I'm so glad that she isn't hindered by her invented spelling. So many kids get stuck on the spelling that they don't let the ideas flow.

Anyways, I've been thinking about how much fun it would be for the girls to write an interview for an animal that they are interested in, but don't know a lot about. They can pretend that they are newscasters on a television show like the Animal Planet. In order to write the interview though, they are going to need to research their animal first. What questions do they want to ask their animal?

Okay, my eight year old just came in and is looking over my shoulder as I write.

"Can I interview our new hamster?"
"Don't you already know a lot about hamsters?"
"Yes, but I want to pretend that it can talk back to me."

Funny,we don't even have our new hamster yet. Now how can I tell her no. She wants to be creative and pretend a hamster is talking to her and she wants to write. So now there you have it- another creative writing idea. Have your child write an interview to his or her pet- just for fun, just to be creative!

Fun ideas for publishing the interview-
*newspaper or magazine article
*act it out with props(table, microphone,poster, etc)
*puppet show (puppet making ideas! )

More writing fun:
Writing Activities for Kids at Home

Great Places to Research Animals:
National Geographic Kids
Animal Planet
Enchanted Learning

What animal do you think your child would like to interview?



Enjoy your day!
Jen

Alien Invasion!

I couldn't resist these little guys! They were staring at me one day while I was shopping at Target. Besides being such a deal, I knew that my girls would enjoy creating stories with these little alien guys. Boy was I right!
A couple of nights ago, my oldest daughter decided to write a script for a puppet show- staring their new puppets. My little one contributed her ideas, while Sunshine wrote the script. Here is a just a sample of their work:

The Monsters Have a Fight

Characters:
Maddie the Cyclops
Mollie the Monster

Maddie: Hey, Mollie, Let's go to the park. (My six year old's writing- hay Mollie lits go to the prek.)

Mollie: NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maddie: Molly, Please! ( Mollie ples)

That's all I can share out of respect for Sunshine. She got embarrassed when she saw that I wanted to share her ideas with the world!! It is so interesting to watch a child progress in the area of writing. I'm so glad that she will take this risk, even though all of the words aren't spelled correctly. I encourage fluency and the flow of ideas first and then editing for spelling and grammar. It was also encouraging to see her work so well with her younger sister and include her in this writing process. Even though her younger sister wasn't able to write the words, her ideas mattered, also. They are going to practice and perform their "Monster Mash" for Mommy and Dad!

Take Care!
Jen

Ghostly Fun!!

I've never met a ghost and I never want too, but I can't resist a cute little ghost like Casper or Halloween ghosts that are smiling instead of looking freakishly scary. So if you are looking for scary ghost ideas, sorry! My ghostly ideas are for little ones who don't enjoy nightmares, but still like a little bit of Halloween fun!

Pop Up Ghost Puppet
Materials
Paper cup
Popsicle stick
White construction paper or white foam board
Black marker
Scissors
Optional: googly eyes and glue

Directions
Cut out a small ghost from white paper or foam board.
Draw or glue eyes on the ghost.
Glue to the top of the Popsicle stick.
Cut a small slit in the bottom of a cup.
Insert the bottom of the stick through the cup.
Now you can hide your little ghost in the cup and have him play peek-a-boo!!

Tootsie Pop Ghost
Materials
Tootsie Pop or other favorite lolly!
White Tissue
Black marker
Yarn or ribbon

Directions
Put lollipop in middle of tissue(s). Tie the tissue around the lollipop. Put a ghostly face on with marker.

Visit Preschool Playbook to see her student's ghostly treats!! (Back to School Night Post)

Visit the following links for more ghostly fun!

Ghostly Garland
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/halloween/string/
This looks like an easy and fun way to decorate. I'm going to try to make some garland this week for my mantle!!

Ghost Necklaces
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/Glueghost.html
Will definitely have to do this with my girls! My 6 year old LOVES glue! The more the better!!

Bootiful Treat Bags
Visit my Halloween Article at ParentingPink.com(article of the week) for this fun ghost craft!!

For more Halloween activities, check out this book from Usborne Books!










Have a "Boo"tiful Day! (o.k. I know it is corny, but I couldn't resist!!)

Jen

Puppets, Puppets, and More Puppets!

Over the years, I've been collecting puppets for the girls- hand and finger puppets. One of their very first puppets was a birds nest that had little baby birds sticking out of the top. I've found the best puppets at flea markets for pennies! A couple of my favorites include a bright colored dragon and a little girl that looks like one of the Muppet's. I also enjoyed having my students and girls create their own puppets. My students would use balloons and papermache to create the head. If kids don't mind getting their hands dirty, they love this! I have had a couple of students who didn't want to put their hands in the papermache mush!! (This great idea for making puppets came from my teaching partner!) Anyways, the students would make the puppets first and then work in a group and write a puppet show together. The challenge was to see how they would fit all of their characters into the story! I've also had older students create puppet shows about topics of study (for ex: endangered species) to share with younger students.
I told my youngest daughter what I'm blogging about and she is all gung-ho about creating a puppet theatre today! "We'll just tape cardboard together and paint it and cut out a hole, Mommy! Let's do it now!" It is 7:00am, so I did tell her she would have to wait until after breakfast!! I've been tempted to invest money into a fancy puppet theatre for them, but decided that they have more fun creating their own. Also, it is very easy to fold up and store and it's FREE! Below are some ideas for making puppets with your little ones and a few links to websites! Have fun and Mommies- don't forget to create your own puppet!!

PaperPlate Puppets: very easy to make with very little materials needed!

Materials: Lg. or sm. paper plates, markers or crayons, lg. craft stick, other fun materials such as googly eyes, yarn, feathers (optional), glue

Directions: Have child create face on front of paper plate and glue on fun materials if handy, attach to stick

Lunch Bag Puppets: Same materials as above- minus the craft stick. They put their hand into the puppet to make it talk!

Directions: Be sure they decorate the right side of the bag where it is folded for the face. Other than that, they can be creative about what they want to add. Scraps of material for clothes and buttons would be fun! My girls like creating animal puppets with lunch bags.

PaperMache Puppets: Go to links for details instructions on how to create this fun puppet. I haven't tried this with my little ones yet, but my oldest is probably about the right age for this one now!


Well, I guess I better get the craft materials out! Looks like we are going to have fun today playing with puppets!!



http://www.dltk-kids.com/type/papermache.htm
http://www.sunniebunniezz.com/index.html
http://www.bobbrownpuppets.com/paperplates1.html