The Enchanting World of Puppet Shows

By Fran Adams
Published on November 1, 1984
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We've designed our puppet theater to be easy to fold and transport.
We've designed our puppet theater to be easy to fold and transport.
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The popularity of puppet shows have endured in part because of characters like Punch and Judy.
The popularity of puppet shows have endured in part because of characters like Punch and Judy.

Part human, part fantasy, puppets and puppet shows have delighted both young and old for generations. Children (especially wee ones) feel a very special kinship with these hand-held cloth-and-tinsel beings. If you don’t believe me, the next time you have the opportunity, stop and watch how tenderly an awestruck toddler who’s been invited to touch a fuzzy animal puppet (still on the puppeteer’s hand) will stroke and caress that pretend character. It’s as if the puppet were much more real … well, than you or me.

Why this affection and ready trust? One reason may lie in the fact that children often dwell in a world suspended between reality and fantasy. And puppets can help create a needed bridge between the two by communicating with youngsters in a unique language of sights and sounds that, although foreign to most adults, is crystal clear to kids.

What’s more, psychologists and teachers tell us that oftentimes a shy or troubled young person can disclose to (or through) a puppet a carefully guarded secret, which otherwise might never have been expressed. But whatever the reason(s), children and puppets really do share an almost magical bond.

Stage Struck

Realizing the inherent possibilities for magic in puppetry, MOTHER EARTH NEWS “elves” have been hard at work devising the plans for “The World’s Most Extraordinary Puppet Theater.” They have even had it tested by experts (children!) and have discovered that this amazing space possesses the power to sweep its inhabitants off to the enchanting realm of their imaginations!

However, such a journey is not possible without a modicum of adult enthusiasm to set things in motion. And building the stage, as you may have guessed, is only the beginning of your parenting part in this family adventure. Of course, you could simply present your PVC-velour creation to your youngsters and hope that they’ll figure out something to do with it. And maybe they will. But chances are that without guidance they won’t. And the theater that could’ve been “the world’s most extraordinary” will become, well, merely ordinary and thus easily dismissed.

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