A woman sits in an educational classroom with children who are holding hand puppets. The children are seated on the floor and facing the woman, who is smiling and holding two colorful puppets.

Using Puppets in the Classroom

SLS UKCreativity

Topic: Using puppets in the classroom 

Age group: Primary – all ages 

Synopsis: Puppets are often associated with a ‘performance’ and teachers may feel that they require skills beyond their everyday teaching. In this post teachers will find that this is not the case and in fact, it has been established that teachers use puppets in diverse ways, very often depending on the nature of the puppet.

Wanda Gajewski
Wandsworth LRS

Librarian’s view:

Storytelling is often considered as a daunting activity. We all have a natural propensity towards telling and will have told many anecdotes and recounted many events.

 Research has shown that children who are read to and hear stories before coming to school are most likely to succeed in school. Using a puppet to tell the story is a wonderful technique which can lead children to discover the joy of literature and learning.

Within the context of language and literacy puppets can be used anytime to bring stories to life and spark your pupils’ imaginations. They may be used to provide a stimulus for creative writing, role play or drama. Children experience their power of imaginations making something inanimate come to life. Their power of imaginations allows them to believe that the puppet has a personality, emotions and this the key to creativity.

I believe this can have a positive effect throughout their life if they were allowed to believe that their visions can manifest, they would feel empowered to create, whether writing a story down on a paper, or designing a puppet.

A collection of hand puppets dressed as various professionals, including a doctor, farmer, chef, policeman, firefighter, construction worker, zookeeper, and a traffic officer with a stop sign.

Why to use puppets during storytelling session:

  • Children are more engaged and motivated.
  • Puppets provide a purpose for investigation and enquiry.
  • Puppets give children the confidence to talk more and share their ideas.
  • Children explain more and justify their ideas when a puppet is used.
  • Puppets help teachers to use more thinking and reasoning questions.

Top tips for using puppets in lessons:

  • Get your puppet to make eye contact with the children.
  • When the puppet is talking, look at the puppet, not at the children.
  • You do not have to use a special voice or accent.
  • Simple actions help your puppet to look alive.
  • Use your puppet for short periods, not  a whole lesson.
  • When you are not using your puppet, arrange it so that it can see what is going on.
  • Use your puppet to offer questions and problems, not information and instructions.
  • Try left and right hands and see which is best for you.
Two hand puppets: one with yellow yarn hair, dressed in a plaid dress and apron; the other with a red hat, blue and red striped shirt, next to a colorful stick, against a plain background.

What teachers say about using puppets:

“I have a couple of children whose attention span is short and does limit their learning. The puppets are a useful way of getting them back in focus.”  

“The children take their time and take more care over explaining to the puppets than they would normally.”  

“Some of the low achievers do not usually say much, but with the puppets they all wanted to say something and have a conversation with them.”  

“Behavioural issues have just disappeared because the puppets are on the lookout for good behaviour. In fact, I must be careful I do not run over time because the children are so engaged, the lessons could last for hours. They just stay interested.”  

Image of five hand puppets and a children's storybook titled "The Frog Prince." The puppets include a frog, princess, queen, king, and a frog in a pond.

What children say about using puppets:

“Puppets make the lesson more fun.”  

“It makes the lesson brighter, makes it stand out.”  

“The puppets take time to make sure everyone understands.”  

“If you have a puppet the group will work together as a group.”  

“Before, when we did not have puppets, right, the lessons were boring, especially science, but now, with the puppets it is much more fun, so we listen more.”  

“If the puppet was alive in real life, I would be his friend.”  

Examples of puppets:

Puppets can be made from a variety of materials and are divided into groups:

A glove with five finger puppets shaped like little astronauts, titled "Favourite Song Mitts: Five Little Men." The black glove is decorated with planets and stars.

Finger puppets

An extremely simple puppet variant which fits onto a single finger. Finger puppets normally have no moving parts and consist primarily of a hollow cylinder shape to cover the finger. This form of puppet has limited application and is used mainly in pre-schools or kindergartens for storytelling with young children.

A colorful traditional Chinese shadow puppet figure with a long beard, elaborate headdress, and intricate patterns on its costume, seen in a profile walking pose. This captivating art form can bring cultural education to any classroom setting.

Shadow puppets

A cut-out figure held between a source of light and a translucent screen. Untypical, as it is two-dimensional in form, shadow puppets can form solid silhouettes, or be decorated with various amounts of cut-out details. Colour can be introduced into the cut-out shapes to provide a different dimension and different effects can be achieved by moving the puppet (or light source) out of focus. Javanese shadow puppets are the classic example of this.

A puppet with a rabbit head, blue neck, wearing a beige dress and extended black gloved hands is shown against a white background.

Rod puppets

Some puppets can be moved using rods. The body is of cloth either sewn or draped. The head and hands can be made from wood, plastic, cloth, or papier mâché. You push the rod to make various parts of the puppet move. Rod puppets do not usually have legs.