Thank you all! I got some feedback from the organiser today, so it sounds as though she was very pleased with the event too, and we're all now looking forward to next year when we do some more workshops.

Yay!

Congrats on your class....I have to say that I love teaching puppetry...almost as much as making or doing puppetry......it is great to pass on your knowledge and enthusiasm.  I get students that I have previously taught seeing me in the community saying "Hi Puppet Man." 

I hope that this is a first step into teaching full time for you....I hear the squeaky hinges on the doors opening.

Daryl H

Hi all - want some more advice for classes.

So you all recall that my class with this mental health org. went well, and they've booked me in for three sessions (with young people) over March/April. Each session will be 2 and half hours.

I'd like to do something different to what was done last time (finger and glove puppets), but can't quite decide what to do. The group last time got an intro to a bunch of different puppets, and most were taken with my muppets. I'd love to work on some of those, but I fear pre-building some will be too costly for the organisation to pay for. I also thought of maybe doing toy theatre or working with papier mache... Anyway, please suggest some ideas!

Thanks!

I reckon your shadow puppets would go down a treat. I am sure that if you showed the students a demonstration of your creations that they would be jumping at the bit to make there own.

I did think of that, but aren't sure. I've got some patterns that I could work with, but it would be nice for them to make something completely from scratch. I'm not sure I could explain the process of designing the puppets properly enough for them to understand it... Or else, I could just make a whole bunch more patterns and get them to work with those.

Could you pre-cut some type of paper like some cardboard stock that they could just pop the pieces out. You know like you when you buy paper dolls and such.

Billy D.

If your students were taken with the muppets I'd work on a very simple sock pupet that they could build.  One where the pre work would be minimal for you.  No foam.  Just fabric with the hand to give the head shape.

I also like the idea of working with the shadow puppets.  But don't think of them as only shadow puppet.  If detailed well they could also be two dimensional puppets.  I know several months ago Shawn had shown is pictures of a show he put together using 2D puppets.  they looked great.

Thanks for all the help. In the end, I decided with sock puppets, shadow puppets (patterns provided) and table-top puppets. I've just now worked out how to do some fantastically simple table-top puppets which I hope to share the methods of very soon.