Kids are fascinated with puppets as they come alive when slipped on your fingers. Folkmanis makes some of my favorites as they often allow for movement in several places–the mouth, wings, shark’s tail or beaks. The ostrich puppet that we featured on NBC CT TV announcing our Top 10 PAL winners is such a favorite around our house, that my husband asked if we could just keep it on the couch in the family room! The puppet has a large moveable mouth for talking and five digits at the end of his wings to slip your fingers in for some realistic action.
Over the years I have used puppets to get shy kids talking as they take on the persona of the puppet. Pretend play with puppets builds language skills as kids practice dialogue, story telling and gain confidence in front of an audience of any size (sometimes just the dog!).
I like the Facts of Interest that are attached to each puppet, which tell some unusual tidbits about the character that can serve as a story starter or influence the content created for the puppet show! The NBC CT interviewer had a good laugh when she learned that the ostrich has about 4 pounds of rocks in his gut to help digest food–who knew? Folkmanis also has a list available of story books and poetry about the different animals in their collection. If you select the sea turtle puppet, why not check out “How Turtles’ Back Was Cracked” or “Turtle Spring.” Bringing in literature to enhance a toy, provides lots of learning opportunities as children can discuss what is the same and different between the lead animal characters or get ideas for their own story.
