When I teach the class “Art For the Elementary School Teacher” I try to do projects that students may never have considered possible that could be great in an elementary classroom. Making a table top puppet stage is very easy and a lot of fun. At most office supply stores they sell three fold cardboard panels that are usually used to display a science fair project. These display boards can cost from about $4.00 to about $15.00 depending on size, color, and weight of the cardboard. If you purchase one that is already colored this may save you quite a bit of time. If you attach removable designs and decorations then you can change the “theme” of the puppet stage easily. If you keep the decorations more generic then the stage could be used for a wide variety of shows.
I found many different puppets available at local dollar only stores. Each time I go I look for different puppets that might be available. There are many puppets that can be purchased over the internet. You can also find prepared scripts and tapes to make the presentation of a puppet show quite professional from the start.
At the high school where I last worked you might think that a puppet stage would not work, but the school also had an “early childhood” department which had very young children in a child care setting. This unit trained students to go into the child care profession. I asked my regular high school students if they would like to conduct puppet shows for the child care section and they were thrilled. So many students wanted to do the shows we had to develop a schedule and a variety of themes for the shows.
They did a lot of shows based on health, friendship, social skills, etc. They also did some lessons on science, math, English and virtually all the other subjects, but made them age level appropriate. They were all carefully monitored about beginning professional and appropriate. They were reminded they would be making the presentations to young children and needed to stay professional. They were monitored by the teacher in the classroom and a report came back to me.
To make the opening in the display board, it was placed on the table and then they put their elbow on the table holding their hand upward. This gave them a height at which they could put the opening and yet keep their elbow supported by the table. The opening would allow their hand covered with a puppet to be seen through the opening, but not show their arm.
Some of my students painted designs and drawings on their display board stage, but some added things to the board that were three dimensional and this really gave depth to the stage. All of my students made curtains for their stage and used 1 x 2 strips of wood on the back side of the board to give it support. Some added a “foot” type base to their boards to help hold them up and keep them from falling over.
When I have used the stage with young children it was interesting to see their own creative stories. They would sometimes say more personal things than you may expect or want so some care might be necessary. Students may need to be reminded not to get simply silly. A puppet theater could be used to present virtually every topic in the curriculum, but don’t overuse it or the novelty will wear away.
