Puppets

At the beginning of my teaching career I saw this awesome fellow teacher who was a master puppeteer. She knew exactly what she was doing and the kids were literally glued to their seats and listened to e-v-e-r-y word she said and answered ALL the questions the puppets asked them (yea, she had two puppets! :o! ). I was completely hooked and thought "man, this is so amazing! I gotta do this!!" I went out, totally motivated and happy, buying all the stuff I could find to set up a great scene. I got to the classroom with my 3year old kids (18 of them), was sooo looking forward to this and thought they are going to looove this and took out my puppet:
"HELLOOOOO, my name is Waldo (it was a dog). What's your name??"

What I expected was something like "My name is Maya".. boy, was I wrong! What happened?

The kids jumped up, tearing the ears of the dog, hitting it on the head, tearing the tail and hitting some more... 

So I silently put it back in the bag and closed my book of "How awesome puppets are with small children"! I told myself to never ever have a puppet somewhere even near me again!

A few years passed, and I learned ...

Puppets are definitely something that you should have in your class when you are teaching small children. 

Some teachers are not very comfortable with puppets (I can totally relate). But let me tell you, you should really give it a try and not give up right away. It is really worth it. They can play a big role in making children feel comfortable. Oftentimes children would not speak to you, the teacher, but they would speak to the puppet. So it's a great way to connect with the shy children and make them fell comfy in your class.

I have a variety of handpuppets in the drawer, but you can easily make them yourself also, with socks, paper bags, envelops .. you name it! So it doesn't have to be expensive? just make sure that it's not too obvious that it's your hand speaking there ;)

When using puppets, there is something you should be aware of. Just bringing the puppet to the classroom and say: Hello, my name is ... is not going to work (definitely not for me as you were able to see). Kids actually need to be prepared, like a warm up.
What is more helpful is to present the child with a story or a problem that the child can connect with.
(example: if your puppet is a dog:
"Ooohh, I've lost my key, pencil, crayon ... (show a flashcard and make a gesture that indicates that you are looking for it)!!! Where could it be???"
Have the kids looking for it in the classroom with you, but not find it!
"Ohh, I know who can find it!!!" Call the name of the puppet and out he comes. Quick intro (this is my friend Waldo, he can find it with his nose!!) and go looking together until he finds the key.
Have him speak a bit while searching (eg. woof woof, it's not here sniff sniff). Make it fun! Then you can introduce the "hero" a bit more in detail.

Be sure that you are using another voice (funny voices are pretty helpful, but you should be comfortable with it).

So what can you actually do with puppets?
- You could tell stories and ask it questions and then turn the questions to the kids, if they think that it is right.
- You could use it to explain games or activities.
- You could use it to get kids to speak (coming up with dialogues)
- You could use it as a listener when the child has a problem, but doesn't want to talk to you (then ask if he or she would like to talk to the puppet and pretend you are not listening by looking in the air or something)
and so much more

It is also very interesting for children to have their own puppets and speak through them. Especially shy and insecure children will love this, because it makes them feel like - if they make a mistake - it's not them, it is the puppet ;). So it gives them more confidence to speak.

You can easily come up with a crafting activity to make puppets.
Here you can find some to print and go: puppets