puppet plays? need help

[**guest**]

i've always envisioned myself doing these fun puppet shows with / for my kids. i have so many finger puppets from ikea (animals, princesses, ocean world), and several other glove-type puppets. but when i try, i am just lost. it doesn't come naturally to me. i stumble, and i get tense. i tried googling, but keep finding moralistic scenarious that i am not keen about.

anyone does those routinely? do you have little scripts or your improvise?
i am afraid i need line-by -ine guidance (well, sort of) but am also looking for something very simple, for kids ages 4.5 and 2.

drama mamas, help me get liberated and stage great puppet shows!

[reeseccup]

My children put on improvised puppet shows for me. I just sit back and enjoy.

I bought several "play" books from schoolastic. We have "Math" plays and "Science" plays, and "History" plays and even "Spanish" plays. We do them occasionally, well they do, but most of the time they play out either a book they've read or simply improvise.

[**guest**]

Originally Posted by reeseccup

My children put on improvised puppet shows for me. I just sit back and enjoy.

I bought several "play" books from schoolastic. We have "Math" plays and "Science" plays, and "History" plays and even "Spanish" plays. We do them occasionally, well they do, but most of the time they play out either a book they've read or simply improvise.

nice :-) mine want me to perform

[reeseccup]

How about stuff like this?

http://www.thecapras.org/mcapra/muppets/VetsHospital/

classic Muppets!!

http://www.creativityinstitute.com/P...he%20Mouse.pdf

or if you wish to spend $$ http://www.thepuppetstore.com/Scripts_s/61.htm and man o'man I'd get lost on this site

I also print out paper dolls, have the kids color them at will, paste them to popcicle sticks and we have easy made "puppets".

http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/explore/puppets.htm

[Fieryfly]

We have always retold stories using our puppets. Just use the same story lines to favorite storybooks, fairy tales, cartoons, movies, etc. When my kids were little the stories were still pretty new to them so they enjoyed them a lot. I'd improvise a little if I use all animals or a royal family instead of what is originally in the story.

Sorry I can't help much more!

[LeBoof]

Puppet plays

I used to belong to the American Puppetry Guild and the Houston Puppetry Guild (long ago and far away). You might check with the American Puppeteers to see if there is a chapter near you. If there is they can possibly help you find plays that you can put on, learn to make your own simple puppets (with the kids), and maybe even find out where a puppet show is going to be. The website for them is http://www.puppeteers.org/membership.html

There's also the fantastic website for the muppets just for fun.
http://muppets.go.com/main.html

I always found that just about any play could be done up as a puppet play if it had the right characters for the puppets on hand.Look through your kids books. Most of them an probably be turned into puppet plays. I end up doing that with my 5 year old son a lot. Of course, he's now getting to where he wants to make the puppets too and join in on the fun.

[Pam_and_Abigail]

Ok, so doing stories you know is good, but what about props? For example, my kids love the story "Corduroy" right now, but how could I improvise, say, the furniture department of the store? Am I simply taking it too far?

I just finished making a puppet theatre out of a bed sheet, all I have to do is hang it up, but I want to have some good ideas of shows to do.

[wonderactivist]

We've used a huge variety of homemade and storebought puppets. I have collected a bunch of resources for puppetry and drama here:

Puppetry and Drama

But my main recommendation is just to start with props and simple stories, then slowly add, but just keep it simple. Most people don't do puppetry because they psyche themselves out over complex stories or complex staging - just do your best and then, by all means, let the kids take over.

Sending positive dramatic thoughts your way,

Lucie