I think puppets are cool. During my teaching degree, I did a puppetry course where we made our puppets and put on a show for the kids at the Royal Brisbane Children’s Hospital School. It was awesome fun creating it and such a treat to present it to the kids.
I love that puppets come in different sizes. Years ago, when I was in Vermont, I went to this event (can’t remember the name of it) and the Bread and Puppet Theatre was there – enormous puppets and quite a spectacle. I loved them.
Then there are the Muppets – everyone’s favourite type of puppets! Jim Henson was a genious and the characters he created are timeless. I still love the two old blokes in the balcony and Fozzy Bear et el…..
I took my love of puppets my classroom as a teacher. I regularly had my classes make puppets and create performances with them. We did all types – shadow puppets, rod puppets and hand puppets. One of my favourite times was when my grade 4 class made Banraku puppets and did we did our own special presentation of “Sadaku and the Thousand Paper Cranes”. They were brilliant. It was actually really powerful theatre.
Something cool happens when you have a puppet. If you haven’t taken the opportunity to have a play with one, I suggest you rectify it. It’s sure to put a smile on your dial.