Video transcript

Child 1: And I’m Mr Lion.

Narrator (Catherine Sewell, play specialist): You don’t need to spend lots of money on puppets. I mean, some of them are beautiful and yes, if you have one, that’s wonderful, but simple puppets are great. I mean, I could just, with a little pen, draw two eyes on my finger and I have a little puppet, or I could have a shadow puppet and move my hands to make it talk. I could have a puppet out of paper with a pop stick or a stick that I find outside. I could use a paper bag and put my hand in, or a sock to make a hand puppet. Glue some googly eyes on something and you already have a puppet.

So, it doesn’t need to be a complex craft activity, although you can – if your child is interested, you can do all sorts of amazing creations, but you can just do a really simple version.

What’s important about the playing with puppets is them giving life to that object, giving a character, giving a voice or a sound, so they’re able to animate an object.

Child 2: I’m Mr Clown. You can’t eat me up.

Child 1: Oh, yes I can.

Narrator: And it can be a really playful way to interact with your children too. So this puppet says, ‘Oh, it’s time for bed,’ just to make your everyday routines more playful.

And puppets are really fun, you know. Quite often, really fun and funny. There’s nothing better than laughing together.

Child 1: And I’m Mr Lion. I’m the king of the jungle.