Using Puppets For Self Expression

Puppets are one of those wonderful inventions that have been around for aeons but continue to delight and engage kids centuries later.

Who would think that putting a couple of buttons on a funny sock, sticking it on your hands and making funny noises could be so fun. But kids love puppets. They love watching puppets and they love playing with puppets.

The success of Children's Television Workshop has much to do with the entertaining nature of its educational content but also its engaging characters, most of which are performed by people you never see.

I remember watching an interview with Kevin Clash, the man behind the voice and performance of Sesame Street's beloved Elmo. He noted that when kids come behind the scenes of Sesame Street, they don't notice the puppeteers manipulating the Sesame Street character. Indeed most kids just think that the humans performing the puppets are simply there to carry their "friends" around.

Kids love performing puppets too, and there is something magic, even for the shyest child, to be able to put an element of their personality into another character, particularly one whose movements can be controlled intimately by the child.

Puppets like those put out by Folkmanis are full of character and are just waiting for a child to impart their own sense of personality and they become fully alive creatures. Once people start interacting with the puppet rather than the child, the concept of the puppet being a separate personality can start to kick in.

Once this happens the child may then feel free to express things they would not have felt uncomfortable voicing themselves. Puppets (and masks) have been used in many situations to help kids relate to the emotions they feel but cannot fully understand.

Not only that but there's just something very appealing (for adults and kids)about speaking in a funny voice.

Inger loves to write and has been writing words on paper for quite some time. When the Internet came along she started writing online too. You can see her latest website which helps parents to chose the best puppets for kids at http://www.puppetsforkids.org