Puppet Center

Puppet Center in preschool

Are you afraid to put puppets in your classroom centers? Maybe you’re not sure why or how to get started with puppets? If this is you, then you’re in the right place!

Puppets are the perfect tool for capturing the attention and imagination of young children in the classroom.

Puppets for Preschool

Why Use Puppets in the Classroom?

Are your kids wiggly? Use a puppet! Not cleaning up? Use a puppet! Puppets are like magic in the early childhood classroom.

The puppets you use in the classroom don’t have to break the bank, you can easily make your own puppets with craft sticks, construction paper, brown lunch bags and glue. It’s more about the educational benefits they can offer your students than the cost of the puppets themselves.

Benefits of a Puppet Center

The benefits of using puppets in the classroom include:

Oral Language: Puppets are exciting and fun! Children are naturally encouraged to speak to and with puppets, which is a great way to get your reluctant speakers talking up a storm!
Social Emotional Skills: Puppets can be used to act out social stories and practice social skills.
Music: Puppets and music go hand in hand! A puppet can make music and movement more interesting and help teach the words and movements to new songs.
Motor Skills: Manipulating puppets is a great way to practice gross and fine motor skills.
Behavior: Children can learn appropriate behaviors from puppets. Puppets can even introduce and explain class rules.
Retelling: Children can use puppets to retell familiar stories

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How to Use Puppets in the Classroom

During your whole group time, puppets can be used to to teach new skills or reinforce concepts. The tricky part is that puppets don’t come with their own built in personality, you have to bring the personality.

The more animated you are, the more effective you will be at capturing the attention of your students – don’t be afraid to use funny or special voices.

Center Essentials Cover 400

Putting puppets out for student use in classroom centers is an entirely different animal. First, you’ll need a puppet theater, or something to serve as the theater. It doesn’t have to be fancy, a cardboard box works just as well as a fancy puppet theater.

Once you have your puppet theater, then you’ll need to decide where it will be located in your classroom. I’m not going to lie, the puppet center can be noisy. I like to set my puppet center up next to the dramatic play center so the puppets will have an audience for their show.

Preschool Puppet Center
Next, place your puppets in a tub, basket, or a puppet tree if you have one.

Of course, you’ll have to model, model, model how to use and interact with the puppets first before letting your kids lose with them.

I have found that when you have the puppets displayed on a stand instead of stacked in a tub students are much more likely to choose to play with the puppets.

Setting Up a Puppet Center in Preschool
Here are some of my favorite puppets for preschool:

3 thoughts on “Puppet Center”

  1. Pingback: 26 Activities for Sick Kids | GoodyBlog

  2. Once students are using the puppets what are the instructions:

    Do they free play with them?
    Do you give some kind of assignment?

    What do students do with them?

    Thanks

    1. Great question! I always have a book along with the puppets to support re-telling. For example, if we’re studying Goldilocks and the 3 bears I would have 4 puppets to correspond with the story. I never put out dinosaurs, wild animals etc. unless they are supported by a book to provide a supportive structure. Most young children have never used puppets independently prior to Pre-K, so they need the extra support to be successful and on-task.

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