Puppets with personality - Cover Story

Like most art teachers, I never throw anything away. So, when it comes to collage time, the choices are endless. I have found, however, when introducing young children to a large variety of materials, the tendency is to just "glue on a lot of stuff' without giving much thought to design or function. Puppet-making time provides the perfect opportunity to present a "think-before-you-glue" state of mind.

Since I only see my third-graders once a week for 50 minutes, I try to fit as many different learning opportunities as possible into each project. Before starting their felt puppets, the children are expected to first design their puppets on a paper shape the exact size their finished puppets will be (see template. D. 19).

The puppets must be either a specific person or personified animal. For example, they could design a football player, not just a man; a cowboy kitten, not just a spotted cat. One caveat: Absolutely no monsters or aliens would be acceptable. The drawing must be accurate in size and color to their expected finished products. Each thing they have drawn must be labeled as to what it is and they must list possible collage-material choices that could be used to create their ideas.

After the puppet designs are completed, students are given a felt puppet (in order to use colors and shapes not offered in kits, I cut my own puppet shapes out of felt that's been folded in half, and hot glue the pieces together) that they will dress with a variety of fabric squares, and additional felt to match their pre-designed ideas. Using a thin white piece of paper (copy paper works nicely), each child makes their clothing patterns by tracing the clothing from their puppet drawings and cutting them out.

These paper patterns are then affixed to felt or fabric squares by rolling masking tape pieces (or using double-sided tape) and placing them between the pattern and the felt. The tape keeps the patterns from slipping while cutting, making clothing fit more accurately.

At this time, students need to be instructed as to how to decide in which order clothing should he cut and glued--usually the largest and always the farthest-back first. For example, if a puppet is wearing a T-shirt and coveralls, an entire shirt would be cut out and glued on first and then overlapped by the coveralls.

Or, if a shirt is white with red stripes, a whole white shirt would be cut out and the red stripes then glued on top of it. A belt should be added last on top of pants, not between shirt and pants. With all of this figured out, we then begin spreading on the tacky glue (distributed in paint cups) with craft sticks, adhering the clothing to our puppets.

Any decorations or collage materials should be added only after all clothing is completed and glued on. Names are written on masking tape which is placed inside the puppets for easy identification.

These puppets take three to four 50-minute class periods so, for safekeeping between classes, any paper-pattern or fabric pieces that are completed but not glued on by file end of class, are folded and placed inside the puppet along with the original design.

If time allows, when all of the children's puppets are complete, a puppet show is always a highlight. I believe the mature results of this project make the extra time and planning well worth the effort.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Students will ...

* create unique puppets through careful planing and extra attention to detail.

* design a puppet that represents a specific person, (e.g. football player, bride, hobo), or a personified animal, (e.g. pirate cat, farmer rabbit, angel pig).

* find creative ways to create a three-dimensional puppet from a two-dimensional design.

* learn how to make and cut patterns to fit.

MATERIALS

* One felt puppet shape per student, smaller than 9" x 12"

* Puppet design sheets drawn at 100-percent of the felt puppet size

* Thin white paper for tracing pattern pieces from design sheet

* Masking or double-sided tape

* Markers

* Scissors

* Tacky glue

* Paint cups

* Craft sticks

* Felt squares

* Misc. craft items: pipe cleaners, feathers, fabric swatches, ribbon, lace, buttons, costume jewelry, craft papers, artificial flowers, wiggle eyes, beads, foam shapes, etc. Students may bring in found objects from home with parental consent.

Cheryl Crumpecker teaches art at St. Paul's Episcopal Day School in Kansas City, Missouri.

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