Guiding Play & Puppetry Experiences

1. Guiding Play & Puppetry Experiences Chapter 21

2. Types of Play • Dramatic Play: • When one child imitates another person or acts out a situation • Socio-Dramatic Play: • When several children imitate others or act out situations together • The most complex type of play • Seldom observed before the age of three

3. Stages of Play • Solitary Play: • Independent play by one child • Parallel Play: • Play beside, but not with, another child • Seldom observed before age two • Cooperative Play: • Play between two or more children • Involves sharing • Builds social skills

4. Stages of Material Use in Play • Manipulative Stage: • Handles and discovers toys • Uses senses to explore toys • Functional Stage: • Uses toys as they are intended • Ex. Plays house with a doll house, uses a car on a track, pounds with a hammer, etc.

5. Stages of Material Use in Play • Imaginative Stage: • Does not need real toys to play • The child thinks of and uses substitutes • Ex. Makes a large box into a space ship, uses a swing set as a dog house, etc. • Not all children reach this stage – they don’t choose to play this way

6. Puppetry • Involves the use of puppets in play • Hand puppets • Mascot puppets • Me puppets • Personification • Giving human traits to animals or nonliving objects • Conflict = Two or more forces that oppose each other • Ex. Good vs. evil, right choice vs. wrong choice • Adds interest or excitement to a puppet show

7. Writing a Puppet Story • 1-Choose a theme that teaches the preschool children a valuable life lesson or skill • Ex. Don’t talk to strangers, honesty, eating healthy foods, etc. • 2-Choose and assign the characters • 3-Outline the script • Set the tone by introducing the characters and story line • Present a conflict for interest and excitement • Provide a happy ending with a resolution to the conflict

8. Creating Puppets • Create at least four characters with speaking parts • Puppets may represent humans or you may use Personification and have animals or objects speak and act like humans • Choose a consistent style • Ex. Paper bag, stick with foam paper, sock, fabric or felt • Use a variety of materials • Ex. Popsicle sticks, googlyeyes, pipe cleaners, paint, shredded paper, yarn, foil, pasta, beads, silk flowers, buttons, sequins, TP rolls, Styrofoam balls, etc.

9. Another Use for Puppets • Projection: • During therapy, a child places feelings and emotions onto a puppet • Use puppets to externalize an internal problem • Ex. Child speaks through the puppet to share a traumatic or difficult experience, points to body parts on a puppet instead of their own body, etc.