Puppet Theater

 

I highly recommend  this project for many grade levels.  The level of engagement was extraordinary from every student.  We started with a simple template  to create a character puppet (see image above). Simply draw your character, fold in half and tape.   We cut a rectangular shape from manila folders and used these for the setting of the story as well as the theater. I had fabric on a table in case anyone wanted to add curtains. Surprisingly, this project only took 2 class periods.  Another great thing was that the kids continued creating stories in their classrooms with their teacher. 

Puppets

Can you tell these were all made by boys?!  I find that the 5 and 6 boys can be quite a challenge as far as coming up with lessons that keep their interests high.  I definitely recommend this lesson if you too have that challenge. A, for the freedom to create a character and B, for the sewing.   First they were to create a character that was of their own  design.  They usually want to do something from a video game or a movie.  After a certain amount of "artist's block" they ventured out and came  up with some great stuff.  I also love the sewing part.  There's nothing like a room full of boys learning how to sew, it's as if they are in a trance of some sort.

Yes!  I got the thumbs up on this one!
In hindsight, yes, they're 10 or l1 years old, but they're
even younger at heart.


Steps:

1. Have them draw their character on a folded piece of large paper.  Make sure the neck starts at the folded edge so it will not come apart later.
2. Color in with oil pastels.
3. Have them draw a dashed line to represent where they will cut.
4. Cut out the character.
5. Hole punch all along the character.
6. Demonstrate how to thread a needle and how to do a running stitch.  We used about 4 feet of yarn for each puppet.
7. Remember to leave about 4 inches of yarn in the back (tape it so it wont move) so you can tie this to the other  end later.
8. Have them sew.
9. Tie the two loose ends together on the back.
10. Now you can cut where the fold is to separate the front and back panels.

                                                                                                          

Bird Puppets

Untitled from Gabriela Elizalde on Vimeo.

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 In 2nd Grade we are exploring color and imagination.  Students drew characters and settings a couple of weeks ago (scroll down to see post) and now the students have created  a make believe bird puppet. We used oil pastels on butcher paper and then sewed the front and back panels together.   We took a vote and they all want to extend the lesson and work in groups to put together a play for their puppets.  In This Week in Art (video above)  you can see various students starting the process of creating a play.  It was great to see students helping students; you see last year I taught the Kindergarten and First Grade how to sew. Now we enjoy the fruits of our labour!  This is a big basket of fruits...consider co-operative learning, peer tutoring, social development, and the generous game of art making.