I don't find the performers creepy, just the 'traditional' vent dummies that look ceramic. I don't know why, they just creep me out. Maybe it's the permanent grin?

I couldn't agree more!! Which is why I use soft puppets! Although I have had some tell me that they are creeped out by my soft puppets too - oh well, I guess everyone is entitled to their opinion. Hard figures are generally not child-friendly, and boy have I seen some REALLY scary ones!! They always remind me of a few Twilight Zone episodes!!

Puppetry is an ideal format for me in terms of how I can learn things. For instance, understanding how the phases of the moon works confuses the * out of me, but with a diagram I get it. I think seeing this shown somehow with puppets would be a great teaching tool. I understand that most shows require characters and a plot, but what I mean to say is that the artform lends itself very well to visual explanations and crossing language barriers.

Precisely! Puppets are a very visual art form and ideal for teaching tools!

Golly Na!

I think a young kid can always be afraid of a puppet for several reasons. That is why is the reason that it is an interaction between the puppeteer, puppet and kid. Some kids like it immediately and go to talk with it others needs time to get used, see what it is and what they can do with it. When we respect that and give a kid time I think after a while all the kids love it. Kids are talking to it even what is on their hearts.
Think about kids with autism, kids that have a trauma.... I never saw a kid that had a distance thirst and it stayed their after a while looking, placing it they come.......may be step by step.
When my daughter was younger (who has autism) talked always what was on her heart with a cuddle. And I talk with her cuddle to ask her questions and she talked about her things she couldn't talk about directly to us. Now she talks to me what is on her heart but she needed the puppet to learn it. She is the reason that I began to search for pattern of puppets. The puppets where to expensive.......

(And by the way even most of the adults go to talk to a puppet.....)

Gompie - you really brought up another wonderful thing about puppets that I had not thought about in the context of this discussion. What you said is VERY true. Many children with special needs relate so much better to a puppet that the person who is trying to talk with them. I read a very heartwarming story about an autistic boy in Australia who would only talk through his puppet. I believe it goes back to that part in a child's brain that needs play - it frees them up to respond. I saw that in my own classroom when I used a puppet to address discipline problems. The students "got it" when the puppet was describing what was going on - when they had not responded when I talked about it.
Thanks for bringing this up Gompie!!

Gompie, are you still looking for a puppet pattern?  I made two that I am no longer using.  It is a large puppet (almost human size) and one regular size.  If you are interested, I will post a picture of one that I made from scratch.

I think my friends 8 month old thinks my puppets are real. He isn't afraid of them but if they aren't moving it looks like he is trying to wake them up. lol.

  This is a picture of a puppet I made from scratch.  I have some others like it, but didn't turn out the way I like (I am not good with a sewing machine.)  This is a large puppet that uses a size 4 shirt. I have a smaller size pattern (size 2 or 3, but I haven't made any puppets from that one.

Gimpier, are you still looking for a puppet pattern?  I made two that I am no longer using.  It is a large puppet (almost human size) and one regular size.  If you are interested, I will post a picture of one that I made from scratch.

O Terry a human size puppet would be great I have patterns of normal once  I was on a Christan conference last week. And the only two kids with autism were in my group. If you know that the first day the kids could sit in a group where they wanted. I believe Gods placed them there.
My oldest daughter was having friends I was looking and wondering about the process that is in here. Step by step see is moving to a normal social life God is doing very great things
I did a play with my youngest daughter for the kids. it was so great. My son he just enjoyed it.
I brought with me a puppet and the kids (5 and 6 years old) realy realy loved it.

Our audience is 2 to 4 year olds and the 2 year olds enjoy it but have trouble staying focused if they are not involved with responses, movements, or surprises frequently. Puppets are great at refocusing, with props, costumes, character voices. We only do 15 minutes, mixing surprises with familiar repetition.  We find that as the year passes they start to pay attention more and more until when they are 3 they are much more engaged.  They are learning the process of how to focus and enjoy the puppets and how to act in a group. They watch the adults and older kids too, they are little sponges soaking it all in. We use puppet to misunderstand big words just like young kids do, with some comical outcomes, and then explain things in preschool terms. Sometimes we wonder if they will remember us when they get bigger, maybe not, but they will remember the social skills they learned.

Snail,thank you for your astute observations, they were very enlightening!  I have written a few plays myself where the puppet misunderstands a word like getting "adverbs" and "Proverbs" mixed up.  Recently. I've been doing a lot of "ad-lib," in which I go along with the teacher giving the lesson, where I act like one of the students, or role play, being one of the characters in the lesson.  I'm working in a "special needs" class where many of the students have the mind of a two year old.  I'm told that I'm getting a good response from the autistic children.