We have been enjoying puppets for weeks now – as always, the children use them in different ways – and it’s not always a strongly language based activity – this group has shown a lot of interest in learning to manipulate the puppets, to coordinate their movements for talking, clapping hands, walking etc – we are using new puppets, with moveable mouths and full bodies which do offer more ways to use them.
Using people also seems to offer more ways to make up stories – for this group, at least.
We have also found that using a puppet can sometimes stimulate a child to say or sing a rhyme or song that they might otherwise not have the confidence to do – we have had one “non-singer” who happily sang through an entire long nursery rhyme (We didn’t know he knew it!). After we saw this, we offered shows at the end of the session, so other children could also have an audience – and they are lining up to do something. Maybe the fact that they are child puppets might also have helped? not sure, but we are thrilled to see this happen.