Online Companion: Early Education Curriculum: a Child's Connection to the World, 3E
Online Companion: Early Education Curriculum: A Child's Connection to the World, 4E
Chapter 11
Puppets
• Reflective Review Questions
• Web Activities
• Additional Related Web Links
Reflective Review Questions
1.What is the significance of the fact that puppets can be traced back at least as early as the ninth century B.C. and can be found in many cultures around the world? What important function have they served, apart from their sheer entertainment value?
2.Do any of the children you work with have a cultural experience that includes puppetry? How has this influenced their comfort and knowledge about using puppets?
3.What are the benefits to young children of creating and operating puppets? List at least six benefits.
4.Describe the process of creating a hand puppet out of felt and other materials. Describe a character that you might create (other than the ones in the text), and discuss how you might use it with young children.
5.Even some of the simplest puppets require developed motor movement and coordination. Think about finger puppets and sock puppets, to name just two. What kind of motor skills would children have to have in order to be able to make their puppets move?
6.Describe ways in which puppets can connect with various curriculum areas. Cover at least four areas, and state specifically how the puppets might be used.
7.Did any television puppets have an impact on you when you were growing up? Analyze the appeal that each had for you. Were they educational? Explain.
8.Discuss the experience of attending a puppet show with one of your classmates. What was memorable about the experience? If you have never seen a puppet show during your adult life, find someone in your class or in your community that can recommend one for you to see. Make an effort to go and see it.
Web Activities
1.National and state standards have been revised, updated, or perhaps created for creative arts and they might include puppetry. Conduct an Internet search to find out whether your state has current standards for creative art benchmarks and indicators. Print or save them so that you can use them in your activity planning for children, as well as for other assignments.
2.MicheLee Puppets
(Go to Teachers and click on “Activity Guides,” and then look through each one of the four activity guides that are available on-line under “Kids on the Block”.)
After reading the information, write a brief paper that summarizes your feelings regarding using puppets to initiate discussions about difficult topics. How are the “Kids on the Block” similar to the Persona Dolls described in Chapter 7 of the Web Link Directory?
3. Royal de Luxe’s amazing street parade,“The Visit of the Sultan of India Atop His Time-Travelling Elephant,” occurred fromMay to July of 2006 and featured giant-size puppets that were operated by 42 puppeteers.
Do a Web search of “Sultan’s Elephant” to find information about this puppetry project created by a French street theatre company. You can also use“YouTube”— then type in “Sultan’s Elephant” in the Search box.
First, using the information from your research on “Sultan’s Elephant” write a brief reaction statement that addresses (at a minimum) the following points:
Was the information contained on these Web sites revolutionary in any way?
Have you ever seen or participated in a street or large venue puppet show? If yes, explain your feelings about the experience. If not, would you like to see one and why?
Do you feel that this creative extravaganza was appropriate for all ages? Explain your rationale.
What did you like most about this? What did you like least? Why?
Describe what you imagine the experience would be like from a puppeteer’s viewpoint, from afour-year-old’s viewpoint, and from an eight-year-old’s viewpoint.
Using what you have learned about puppetry, explain why you would support (or not support) public monies being spent on community shows such as this one.
Second, make a list of the types of knowledge these puppeteers would have to have in order to create these giant-size puppets. Share your list with a fellow classmate.
4.History of Puppetry
CanadianMuseum of Civilization Corporation
(Click on “English,” then click on “Educational and Teacher Resources,” then click on “Arts and Crafts,” and then click on “The Art of Puppetry.”)
Le Petit Prince
(Click on “English,” then click on “the King,” and then click on “A brief history of puppet theater.”)
Puppetry Home Page
(Click on “Puppetry Traditions Around the World.”)
Puppets, Inc.
(Click on “history of puppetry.”)
Sunnie BunnieZZ
(Click on “Puppetry,” then click on “A Brief History of Puppets.”)
U.S. Non-tradition
After exploring these Web sites, can you identify some specific points about puppet history that you were not aware of before?
Additional Related Web Links
1.Das Puppenspiel
2.Folkmanis Puppets
3.Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood
(Click on “Search,” then click on “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.”)
4. Preschool Rainbow
5.Princeton online
(Click on “Community,” then click on “The Arts,” then click on “IncredibleArtDepartment,” then type in “Puppetry and Shadow Plays” in the Google Search box, and then click on the “Puppetry and Shadow Plays” link.)
6.The PuppetMuseum
7.Puppet Dream
8.Puppeteers of America
9.Puppetry Theme Page
(Click on “Search,” then type in “Fine Arts,” in the Search box, and then click on the “Puppetry Theme Page” link.)
10.Vietnamese Water Puppetry
11. The World of Puppets: