The International Language of Puppets (continued)

Learn more about international puppets with Aaron Shephard's
A World of Puppets Bookshelf: Good Books for Getting Into Puppet History and Puppets of Many Lands

Bunraku puppetry comes from Japan, an outgrowth of competing Kabuki Theatres in the 1600's. This unusual technique features 1/3 life-sized puppets that, with the help of human assistants, walk freely through the set rather than staying within confining walls of the puppet stage. Puppeteers dress in black, but otherwise remain fully visible to the audience. Audiences are so fascinated watching the moving puppet figures onstage that the puppeteers become effectively invisible.

Bunraku style puppetry has strongly influenced modern Western puppet theatre. Julie Taymor's The Lion King utilizes large puppets with visible puppeteers, as does the most recent Broadway runaway hit, Avenue Q. Here, the visible puppeteers become characters vital to the performance. The highly skilled technicians are anything but invisible or anonymous.

Introducing Kids to Puppetry

Helping kids explore the magical medium of puppetry will give them an outlet to act out favorite stories, and to cultivate a lifelong love of reading. To establish a solid takeoff point for puppetry, start with a trip to your local library.

Libraries provide endless fodder for performance material - fantasy, history, biographies, myths, poetry, old and new stories from around the world. From the simple single child doll-play, to role-play adventures among several children, to more elaborate enactments of scripts and stories from behind a stag, puppet play is imaginative and open-ended. Look for sturdy, well-built puppets made of durable washable materials that will stand up to enthusiastic play. For the greatest play value, the puppet should be capable of a wide variety of expressions, and easily manipulated by a child’s hands.

Puppets Connect Past and Present

Puppetry creates unique points of view - kids can imagine themselves as other characters with lives very different from their own, which can help them develop empathy, and learn to better work together with others. A magical medium, puppetry connects kids to a sense of history and culture.

Enrich family connections by creating a group puppet project. Enacting stories from the lives of extended family and earlier generations can give kids a stronger sense of family history. Inviting other members of the family to these performances creates an atmosphere of warmth and whimsy, opening doors for understanding and appreciation.

For those of us not familiar with the traditions of our own "Old World" cultures, or even the stories of our own families, puppetry can provide a platform for connection with older generations, and with cultural traditions that have been lost along the way.

In many languages around the world, the words puppet, doll, and nurture are closely related. These simple toys encourage children to laugh, grow and learn, bringing much happiness and creating a loving connection between caretaker and child.