Character Puppets

When I was teaching, I found that Puppets were a great way to get an idea across to children. The puppeteer has a license for being silly while interacting with the puppet, and the children are not afraid to squeal in laughter.

Good positive vibes for helping kids remember a point.

You can use puppets to explore many different themes with a group of children. Having a problem in the classroom with sharing? Find a story on sharing you can act out, or create your own story using a situation similar to the one you are trying to improve. You can get the children to make up a story on a certain theme as well. The puppets serve as a bit of separation so that children can look at the ideas more objectively.

Puppets are also useful when presenting a theme such as safety or nutrition to children.

The puppets on this page are bright and loaded with personality. Many of them are made by Melissa and Doug, known for their great quality and detail.

Is there a puppet here that would make your lessons sparkle?

Have you ever asked a group of children what they wanted to be when they grew up? Sometimes they choose the most obvious answers -- teacher, doctor, police officer, fire fighter -- because that's what they know about. These are the people they see in their communities.

Some children think that being a princess or a prince may be fun. Or maybe they just like to imagine the lives of royalty for the fantasy aspect. Although I have only included the princess puppet and the king puppet on this page, Melissa and Doug also make a queen puppet and a prince puppet. If you are interested in one of those two, you will find them by clicking on one of the other puppets appearing here. A combination of royalty puppets may be just what you need in telling your favorite fairy tale. A history lesson could include the royalty puppets, too.

Children enjoy using their imaginations to think about what grown up life will be like. Having a few occupational puppets around will help them act out scenarios of what it means to work as a police officer or a fire fighter. These puppets can also be used when talking to young children about fire safety or traffic safety.

The surgeon puppet can not only aid in imaginative play, but can prepare a child for a trip to the doctor or help with dealing with sickness in the family. Some children need to work out their feelings and fears by role playing and by thinking ahead about what will happen to themselves or their loved ones.

The chef puppet can be part of a lesson on nutrition or cooking. He can be serious or silly and your nutrition lesson can be an interactive conversation between a silly chef and the children who know their nutrition lesson and can teach the silly chef how to prepare a healthy meal.

And, of course, you can use the puppets for play and simple fun!