Puppets

The modern puppet as we know it originated in Italy, where it was used in religious drama. As this type of drama became popular, the puppeteers traveled to nearby countries, and soon other countries adopted puppets for entertainment. It is known that at least one puppeteer, an Italian, was performing in London in the sixteenth century, and Shakespeare refers to puppets in several of his plays.

Europeans enjoyed both hand puppets and the classic string marionnettes that were used by itinerant entertainers and musicians. Their performances included satirical plays, stories of bravery and chivalry, religious dramas, and comedies. These programs attracted skilled writers and artists who designed and created puppets and marionnettes, costumes, and sets. The skill of these artists became so great that by the nineteenth century they were producing ballets, plays, and even entire operas.

In the early part of the twentieth century, the Punch and Judy show was still part of European and American tradition. With the increased interest in animated cartoons, motion pictures, and television, puppets declined in popularity. This trend has reveresed itself somewhat, however, because of the adaptability of puppets to television. Once again children delight to the antics of the puppets of Bill Baird, George Latshaw, and others.

From about four basic types of puppets come innumerable variations.

1. Hand puppet. The first type, the hand puppet, is made to fit over the hand and arm. The head and arms of the puppet are moved by the fingers. Legs and feet are sometimes attached to the puppet figures, but they dangle and are seldom manipulated. There are many ways to construct a stage for hand puppets with a basic structure that is floorless and permits the Puppeteer to work below the stage. Because of the simplicity of such stages, the scenery is ordinarily limited to a decorated backdrop.

2. Rod puppet. A second puppet type is the rod puppet. These, like the hand puppets, are worked from below the stage opening. The puppet is constructed on a rigid rod and movement is created by one or more rods attached to the arms as well as the body. Some very large types, such as the life-size ones used in Japanese Bunraku (Kabuki drama adapted for puppets) require the puppeteer to be dressed completely in black while he works on stage with the puppet in view of the audience. The single rod puppet is very adaptable to school use at almost every age level.

3. Marionette. A third type is the classic marionette, which is manipulated from above the stage by strings. This is the most difficult type to construct and to operate. There have been many remarkable marionettes whose agile movements were controlled by more than a dozen different strings. The marionette stage is a miniature of a regular theatrical stage with special scaffolding to allow the marionettes to be controlled from above the stage opening. In Europe, marionettes have had periods of popularity so great that they were recognized by the state and reviewed by the major theater critics of the day.

4. Shadow puppet. The shadow puppet is the final major type of puppet. It, like the first two types, is worked from below the stage opening. The figures are flat, two-dimensioanl cutouts fastened to thin wires or rods, which are used to create movements. These figures often are jointed so that they have movable arms, legs, or mouths. A light is placed behind a tautly stretched cloth onto which a simple scene has been painted. The puppet when held against the cloth from the lighted side appears as a silhouette to the audience. It is believed that shadow puppets originated in China as early as the eleventh century. The Chinese shadow puppets were constructted of animal skin, which gave a somewhat translucent quality to the figures. Many of the oriental shadow puppets had removable heads, so that a simple head change produced a new characater. The shadow puppets found their way from Asia to Europe where they also became popular. The evolution of this type of puppet seems inevitable; what child has not used his hands to cast shadows of animals, people, and what-have-you on the wall of his bedroom?

As an educational tool, puppets have become very widely accepted because of their value in helping children in personal development and the creative opportunities the building and operation of puppets provide. There is probably no greater thrill or sense of satisfaction than that which comes to the teacher who, through planning and effort, finds his pupils unfolding and revealing qualities that had lain dormant. Often these very qualities are not evident because the child lacks confidence in himself or is unable to communicate his thoughts and feelings for lack of the right medium. In puppetry, the teacher will find many possibilities for enriching most educational situations. Often, through the medium of the puppet, the child finds himself able to express thoughts, ideas, and feelings that he oherwise could not.

The puppet may serve as a therapeutic aid, but it has many other educational uses. Its wide range of uses and the large variety of types of puppets mean that their use is posssisble for most teachers in ordinary classroom situations. Puppetry is a teaching tool that can be used at any age level and can be modified to meet the physical and equipment limitations of even the poorest situations. There is no right way or wrong way to make puppets, but there may be a best way for each individual teacher. The teacher has to use the available materials and develop personal puppet techniques. It is good to know a number of ways to make puppets so that puppets can be used at different age levels without repeating puppet types and methods of approach.

To use puppets as a means of correlation of other studies such as reading or history is valuable, but correlation should never be allowed to become a limitation. Too often attempts at correlation are simply impositions upon rather than a natural outgrowth of a study unit.

A LIVELY HAND PUPPET (any level beyond the 3rd grade)
Teacher should proceed slowly and see that each child keeps up with directions until the basic sructure is complete.

This project involves a three-dimensional fist or hand puppet which alows sucha range of expression that teh poorest student will make a successful puppet, whicle the most gifted can go as far as his creative abilities alow. The materials should be ready to work with at the start so that the class can proceed rapidly and smoothly through the initial stages.

1. Have prepared for each child:
A samll container with some water in it

A small bundle of newspapers

1 yard (ca.) of brown sticky paper (gummed kraft tape)

A piece of construction paper about 3" x 9"

A pair of scissors.

2. Have the children cut their kraft paper into strips 1/2" x 12".

3. When this is done, take the piece of construction paper and wrap it around the index finger on the hand that the child will use to operate the puppet. This should be wrapped snugly, and yet loosely enough that it can be removed easily.

4. Wrap the tube with a piece of gummed kraft paper that has been moistened by a small wad of newspaper dipped into the water. Samll bits of kraft tape can be turned over the ends to keep the tube from telescoping when the finger is withdrawn.

5. The child then crumples a double sheet of newspaper by starting at one corner and sowly forming it into a ball about teh size of a baseball. This is paced like a snowball so that it stays round and compact.

6. One of the foot long pieces of gummed kraft paper is then moistened and the ball of newspaper placed in the center. The child perches the ball on an end of the tube, and the free ends of the tape are bruo ght down and stuck onto the tube. This process is repeated, with the sticky paper going over different parts until the ball is secure on top of the tube. [It may still wobble slightly, but teh wobbling will disappear in subsequent steps.]

7. A quantity of wallpaper paste is put into each child's container, and his desk is covered with several sheets of newspaper.

8. The child tears pieces of newspaper into small strips, which they dip into the paste and then apply carefully to the ball and tube. About three layers of these strips are aplied to the entire surface.

[NOTE: The very slow pupil may not be ale to go much beyond this point. But having reached this point, he will have a sufficiently good form. Features such as nose, mouth, eyes, and ears can be painted on it to create a perfectly satisfactory puppet. At this point, however, the truly creative part of the puppet making begins.]

Now, the children must make some decisions regarding their puppets. Who or what is it? Will he be kindly or mean, young or old, animal or person, fantastic or realistic? Children reach these decisions easily. Occasionally they souild make puppets with no spcial charactaers in mind. The variety of characters that apears will serve as a stimulation for developeing new and interesting sories and lays.

The child builds up the major features by placing larger wads of paper wherever necessary. For example, if the puppet is to be a chipmunk with large, bulgy cheeks, two wads of paper can be placed in the proper position and fastened down with some strips of newspaper and paste and built up until the cheeks puff out just the way the child thinks they should. From this point on, the puppet making is a modeling process in which each of the features is built up with small bits of paper soaked in the paste until they are soft and pliable. Some children will add an additional large ball of paper to form a snout or long nose to make a pig or goat. Others may cut large floppy ears from eight or ten thicknesses of paper. These are strengthened by dipping them into the paste so that the edges become saturated and sealed. When the features are completed, the puppets are put away to dry. When these have dried overnight, they become rigid and hard and have very solid surfaces.

The children may work on these puppets in subsequent lessons if necessary, but it is imporatant not to allow any of the craft projects to cover too long a time, for the interest span of children is limited.

DRYING PUPPETS
One method is to build a simple rack by drilling holes into a board and inserting short dowel rods.

One can make a simpler rack by pounding large nails into a board and resting each puppet head over a nail. This keeps the forms from being flattened or from sticking to another surface.

A convenient method is to suspend them by string attached to the neck. Hang the heads from the underside of the chalk trough beneath the blackboard.

ENLIVENING PUPPETS
When the heads are dried they are ready to paint. A can of water-based or rubber-based interior wall paint makes a good undercoating on which to put the tempera paints and makes the classroom paints go much further. Usually one of the children can find a partially used can that he can bring from home. However, an undercoat is not essential, and puppet heads can be painted with any kind of paint. If the school budget does not provide dry powder paint or tempera paint, the teacher may be surprised by the variety and quantity of paints that the children can bring in from their toolsheds and basements. Naturally the water-based paints are best, since with them no special solvent is necessary to clean the brushes after use.

At the same time they are making the heads, the boys and girls can roll tubes to fit the thumb and middle finger. These will serve as the arms and hands of the puppet. There are many ways in which the hands can be made. A simple way is to form a hand of soft, thin wire and attach it to the tube, covering the wire with bits of paper and paste. Another method is to cut a hand from a piece of cardboard and fasten it to the tube. If the child wishes, he may build the hand up with bits of paper and paste. For some puppets that represent animals, the ends of the tubes may be closed with wads of paper and become paws.

When the head and hands are completed. the children should be encouraged to bring in pieces of cloth, old materials, needles, and thread from home to sew a costume. The costume should be made as simple as possible, but always large enough so that the hand can easily be inserted into it, with the index finger going into the neck tube and the middle finger and thumb into the hand tubes.

DRAMATIZING WITH PUPPETS
Children who make puppets of this type will want to put on performances that require some planning and practice.

Simple stages can be made of large cardboard cartons from grocery stores.

One can make a very simple stage by stretching kraft wrapping paper diagonally across a corner of a room and cutting a hole into the center of it to serve as the stage opening. A second piece can be similarly stretched, but about 18" behind the first. This will serve as the backdrop, and on it the children can paint scenery. They can also make the scenery of colored paper. For a real dramatic performance, the room can be darkened and the stage lighted with a spotlight or an ordinary lamp directed into the stage opening.

Children old enough to make these puppets should also be inspired to develop their own plays. The plays are always more spontaneous if the children are not held rigidly to a script, but are permitted to express themselves freely within a general framework. After several rehearsals, they will put on a polished performance with no script in hand. Puppets of this sort are fine for school parties or for entertaining parents on special occasions.

A VARIATION
Some teachers prefer to use this type of puppet by having the children first model the head from a plastic clay, then cover it with petroleum jelly and finallly build up successive layers of paper and paste until the head is about five or six coats thick. When the layers have dried sufficiently, the head is cut in half with a razor blade and the plastic clay is removed. Then the edges are sealed together with bits of paper and paste, thus makeing a very light but strong head with which to work. This method takes a great deal more time and effort than that previously described, it produces stiffer, more rigid puppet heads than other methods, and provides accuracy and detail where desired.

STOCKING PUPPETS

Cotton or nylon stocking

Cotton batting or other material for stuffing

Needle & some yarn

String

Marbles or smooth pebbles

A very nice type of string marionette can be made from a woman's cotton stocking. This puppet can also serve as a cuddly doll. The children are asked to bring in a stocking and some cotton batting or other material suitable for stuffing (for example, an old nylon stocking that has been shredded with scissors), a needle, and some yarn with which to sew. the child cuts off the foot of thestocking at the ankle, leaving only the long tube. The stocking is then turned inside out and one end tied shut with a piece of string. It is again turned right side out. A wad of cotton batting is stuffed into the stocking to form the shape of a head. The stocking is wrapped beneath the head with a piece of yarn or string to form the neck. More batting is stuffed into the stocking to form the upper part of the body. The stocking is wrapped below this to form the waist, and again it is stuffed to form the lower half of the body; but this time the child sews across the stocking below the body. WIth his scissors, the child cuts the remainder of the stocking lengthwise to form the two legs, and these in turn are sewed up each sdie so that they may be stuffed. They are stuffed down to the knee. If there are marbles available, one should be inserted at the knee and the leg wrapped above and below it to give a flexible joint. If marbles are not available, a smooth pebble will serve. The rest of the leg is stuffed and the bottom sewed shut. The foot of the stocking is then split lengthwise and the open edges sewed shut to be used as arms. Half the arm may be stuffed and tied off, a marble or pebble inserted, and the arm finished in the same manner as the leg. This will form the elbow joint and make the arm very floppy. The arm is then sewed fast to the shoulder of the puppet. When the second arm is attached , the main part of the puppet is then complete.

Bits of felt from old hats may be used to form feet or shoes; bits of light-colored cloth may be used for gloves or hands. The feet and hands should be weighted if the figure is to be used as a puppet.

The faces can be made by embroidering the features with yarn or by sewing on buttons or appliquÚing pieces of felt or cloth. Hair can be made of pieces of yarn or other scrap material.

The child can costume the doll in whatever manner he wishes. A serach through mother's ragbag may reveal enough interesting pieces of cloth to make adequate costumes. If the dolls are to be used as puppets, they are suspended from a crossbar by means of heavy black thread attached at the knees, shoulders, hands, and the top of the head. The mechanism should be kept as simple as possible, so that movement can be obtained with a minimum of technical knowhow.

[Meaning in Crafts. Mattil,, Edward L. Chairman, Dept. of Art, North Texas State University. Third Edition, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1971.]