Puppets are an aspect of our history and everyday lives. From marionettes to the Muppets we see them on television, on videos or in live performances. In their different forms they appeal to both old and young alike, represent different customs and traditions and are valuable educational tools. Puppets are both entertaining and captivating. Children can believe and relate to them; they can enter and explore the fascinating inventive world that puppets create.
Learning through play is fundamental to our children's education, helping them to develop the necessary skills in life. Puppets can stimulate children’s imagination, encourage creative play and discovery and are a wonderful interactive way to introduce narrative to even the most reluctant reader. They can be a powerful way of bringing story time to life; puppets can provide a focus for role play, encouraging the child’s imagination and involvement in activities and can play a fundamental part in the recitation of stories and verse. In addition, hand puppets with workable mouths and tongues are an excellent motivational resource to inspire the teaching of phonics within literacy.
Puppets can assist children with special educational needs. They can motivate and support children with difficulties in communication and interaction. They can help to develop their social and motor skills, and can meet the visual, tactile and emotional needs of the individual child. Large human puppets with glove hands and fingers can be used in conjunction with the different varieties of signing, adding a further dimension in helping children with both hearing difficulties and learning disabilities.
Puppets can share joy or sadness; they can be naughty or good, cheeky or shy; and when a child is engaged by a puppet they can learn lessons and absorb messages without even realising they are.
The "Engaging Science Project" research funded by the Nuffield Foundation Autumn in 2004, introduced puppets in Primary Science. Findings showed that nearly all of the children were highly engaged and motivated when the puppets were used, consequently more children became involved in the lesson and more children engaged in conversation. For more information on the Puppets project and further developments see: Puppets Project - www.nuffieldcurriculumcentre.org/go/minisite/PrimaryScience/Page_142.html
Any puppet can encourage the quietest of children to start talking. Puppets can break down barriers and provide an effective means to initiate communication. The child trusts the puppet and doesn’t feel threatened, making it a perfect neutral medium through which sensitive issues can be shared and discussed. A child can express thoughts, fears and feelings through a puppet that they might otherwise find difficult to voice to an adult.
Within their different roles, many health professionals use puppets as therapeutic tools. For children - going into hospital can be a traumatic time; fear of the unknown can lead to more anxiety and stress. Research has shown that children that are not anxious pre-operatively recover quicker after surgery than children who are anxious. For the professional staff there is a need to allay the child’s fears and gain their trust. Puppets can offer comfort and safety; they can be used to help children understand what they will experience as a patient and by doing so, they can calm the child’s fears and enhance their recovery.
Puppets can help children come to terms with the loss of a loved one. Puppets were introduced to the children living in Asia by Dr Lynne Jones in the wake of the tsunami. She found many young survivors couldn’t comprehend what had happened to them, so she used puppet workshops to explain the tsunami and help the children come to terms with their loss.
"puppets are one step away from being human and so there is a distance but at the same time we can identify with them" Dr Lynne Jones.
Extract from BBC News website by Steven Shukor. To view article: click here
All puppets come to life as characters; they can portray different personalities, various traits and they cross all cultures. By using the medium of puppetry, we can bring awareness to and educate young people and adults about often delicate social issues. As an example, workshops using interactive puppetry have been instrumental in helping to educate and spread knowledge about Aids prevention.
Puppets are the ideal educator - they provide an essential link between learning and play which makes them wonderful teaching tools for at home, the classroom and in the wider community.
© Puppets for Education 2007 
Living Puppets go to School!
Bringing puppets to life
Research Articles:
(Amy Wallace, Larisa Mishina 2004), http://www.puppetools.com/amys_thesis.pdf