The Art of Puppetry

Season's Greetings!! As we move quickly towards the end 0f 2021, we hope you're experiencing a joyous holiday season. After the popular response to our No Sew Baby Sculpture video (which could also be used as puppet), we wanted to share more  thoughts about the art of puppetry. While puppets are a great tool for telling stories in the classroom and encouraging playtime with younger learners, they are even more exciting to create.  Here's a small sample of puppeteers, characters and activities to enhance the puppetry unit in your art curriculum.

Puppet Creation

Puppetry is such a fun unit to explore because you can use a variety of materials, techniques and styles to create one. Moreover, this unit can be used in grades Pre-K-12. They can be simple small finger puppets made out of paper or larger marionettes composed of wood and fabric. You can  also make a hand puppet with a paper bag or an intricately cut shadow puppet. 

​Puppets can be modeled after animals, people, or fictional characters from your imagination. Check out this simple hand puppet we made using felt fabric, a recycled sock, a low-temp hot glue gun, stickers, and puff paint:

1. Grab a sock. 2. Cut the shapes for the puppet out of felt. 3. Use the hot glue gun to glue the shapes to the sock. 4. Use puff paint and stickers to add details to the puppet.

Black Puppetry Featured on TV

The iconic television show Sesame Street is a great example of how puppetry can be used to entertain, educate and inspire.  The puppetry featured on the show also displays great craftsmanship and creativity. While most of the characters on the show are not normally identified racially, there are a few puppets that have been used to represent Black culture throughout the history of the show:

Actor Matt Robinson was the first black actor to voice the first Black Sesame Street character "Roosevelt Franklin" . Graphic from www.watchtheyard.com

Segi appeared at the 2015 Sesame Workshop Benefit Gala, puppeteered by Geri Cole and voiced live by Naturi Naughton. Image from www.muppet.fandom.com

Puppetry in the Theatre

One of our favorite examples of puppetry is displayed in the phenomenal broadway production of the Lion King. We were mesmerized by the life-sized puppetry when we saw the show for the first time. Have you seen any other cool examples of puppetry used in a theatrical performance?

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Puppeteers in the Community

Black puppeteers are an important part of the puppetry community. We had the pleasure of seeing some of the amazing puppet creations of multimedia artist Tarish Pipkins in person. His puppets are fantastic and made using recycled materials. His work has appeared in several music videos and he facilitates workshops around the country. Visit his website to learn more about his innovative creations.

We are equally impressed by the performances of talented ventriloquist Megan Piphus. She has mastered the art of puppetry and is distinguished with being the first Black female puppeteer on Sesame Street.  Learn more about this phenomenal performerar on her website: ​https://www.meganpiphus.com

Ventriloquist Megan Piphus will perform at the “Living Objects: African American Puppetry Festival and Symposium.” (Photo: David Teran)

Who are some of your favorite puppet characters? Share in the comment section below and have a wonderful holiday season!

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