Mixing the old into the new

Anumeha Fatehpuria

Education is a long and ever evolving journey, and as children go along this path, there are several things that they have to learn. When they are younger, teachers use resources that are colourful and attractive; even the classroom walls have colourful pin-ups and every teacher attempts to make the classroom visually appealing. When working with younger children, especially from the stage of infancy to grade school, it is important to use teaching resources that are fun, attractive and interactive. Puppets are an excellent way to teach concepts and generally communicate with children in class.

Puppets are attractive to children because they are colourful, malleable, and interactive. Puppets can be as simple or as complex as we like. They can be made very easily, keeping the topic or theme in mind. All we need are a few simple materials and a bit of imagination to put them together.

Here is an example of a simple math lesson made fun with puppets. These tiny one minute puppets can be taken apart after the lesson.

The concept being taught – less and more. Since it was the month of October and Dussehra was the theme around the school, we made a bunch of tiny puppets using coloured one inch, cylindrical foam pegs – otherwise used for colour sorting – and strips of paper.

Making the puppets
Take two pegs and stack them one on top of the other. Then secure them by wrapping a strip of paper 1.5 inches by 4 inches around them. You could draw patterns or outlines of soldiers’ uniforms on the paper, or get the children to draw them.

We used a rectangular cork board base as the battle ground and the pegs were soldiers. We got a few soldiers on either side of the battlefi eld; one side had more and one less. Giving them a brief outline of the story of the Ramayan, we came to the telling of the final battle between Ram and Ravan, as we proceeded to the end of the battle, the puppets on Ram’s side kept increasing and the puppets on Ravan’s side kept getting hurt and leaving the battle field. Thus they saw how the balance of more and less changed from one side to another.

The puppets also gave them a chance to touch and work with the concept on their own. Children were able to learn much better with puppets as it brought the lesson alive.

Puppet pros
Learners are of different types – auditory, kinaesthetic, visual and those who learn best with reading and writing. Puppets are very versatile, and if planned well, keeping the theme and subject in mind, they can be used to address the needs of every learner type.

Puppets help children to open up and express themselves confidently. They can be used during group time to get their attention and during circle time to impart skills like turn taking, concepts like sequencing and values like patience, confidence, and compassion.

Puppets can be used beautifully during storytelling sessions and also in theatre lessons.

To make very simple or even complex puppets use readily available material or recycled material. This will become a good opportunity for children to learn to respect the available resources and get into the practice of recycling and reducing waste.

Pop-up puppets
• Any soft drink can – aluminium • Thin bamboo sticks 12” to 14” in length (or used long pencils) • A few sheets of newspaper • A pair of scissors • A cutter • Masking tape • Fevicol • Piece of cloth plain or printed (felt/cotton) – The thinner the cloth, the easier it will be to work with • A long piece of string or wool • Black or any other colour marker pen • A thick sheet of white paper – A3 size • Strong adhesive • Acrylic paints • Paint brushes • Rags • Bowl for water • Water for painting

The process
Cut the can, using a paper cutter, into half. Keep the bottom half. Use a hammer and nail to make a hole in the centre of the bottom of the can. You can get children to paint the can using acrylic colours. Let it dry.

Take half a sheet of newspaper and make a ball with it. Cover it with about 4 to 5 layers of newspaper, making the ball bigger. Scrunch it up really well. Insert the stick into one side and then cover the entire ball with masking tape, taping the stick along with it. Make sure the tape is tight and the stick is in place.

Once the ball is ready cover it with a cloth. Tie the cloth with a string, just below the ball.

Insert the stick into the hole in the can, from the top and stick the cloth to the edge of the can using a strong adhesive.

Now using a marker and a sheet of paper, draw eyes any way you like and then cut them out and stick them on the puppet. Draw funny faces, colour them and cut them out to stick on the puppet.

Once everything is dry, you can pull the stick down and the head of the puppet will go into the can. Whenever you want to use the puppets, bring them out and make them move up and down.

These puppets take about an hour to make. You can tell a story with them. Let the children take up tasks according to their readiness. Making puppets is great fun and children can do it as an individual activity or a group activity. They can also make a single puppet, or various characters and objects for an entire story.

The puppet making process, however, must be carried out under adult supervision and children must be given age-appropriate tasks.

The author is an educator, and as a performance storyteller she travels around the country using stories as one of the ways to bring a change in the way children learn. She can be reached at anumeha.fatehpuria@gmail.com.