Cluster of crafts

Here are some shots of the puppet crafts the kids worked on!

Steve Snowball--he was made out of foam balls with glue and glitter. His eyes were glued on as well. We used regular ol' glue (for the kids). FUN!


The mice finger puppets. I just loved taking this picture--they look like a gang! Straight out of "West Side Story"...can't you just hear them? "When you're a jet, you're a jet all the way...!" HA!


T-Rex's in a row! I had such a fun time making these with the kids! They were just beautiful! I really should have taken pics of each one, they were works of art!

Enjoy!

Session 2 kids coloring

Here's a pic of one little guy working...


...
he was quickly joined by others.

Session 2 kids and crafts!

I loved watching this little girl work. She was so meticulous with her color. She knew exactly what she wanted and worked very hard to achieve the right effect. The color she put on her T-Rex was very dense and rich (no white spaces at all!). And she got a little frustrated when her yellow crayon slipped and smudged the black line of the nose. Adorable! I just wanted to hug her until she smiled!


Another coloring champ! I was warned by Ms. Eileen that this little guy could get very disruptive if he thought hi coloring didn't go well. He was a lamb! He worked very hard on the exact colors he wanted and didn't talk much. Focused, I understand that.

Group photos - session 1

The group with their Steve Snowball puppets.


Ms. Sandy, Ms. Eileen, and I help the kids show off their T-Rex puppets (and we all 'Roar like a Tyrannosaur').


Everyone and their mice finger puppets.

Time to play!

When everyone finished their puppets, the group got to PLAY with their puppets!


The group plays with their new puppets in a sing-a-long.


A little boy admires his handi-work

Star Wars with HANDS!

My husband sent me this and I had to share it...for all of us nerds.

Star Wars with hands! Watch it HERE I'm sure it's on a million other blogs but...I just loved it and laughed about it! Really, watch it--I'm betting you'll recognize every shot!!

Making "Mary"

Ms. Eileen helps the kids make Mary, Barry, and Larry finger puppets.


A little girl finishes her Mary finger puppet.

More crafts!

Here's a picture of the glitter boxes the kids used to make their Steve Snowball puppets. After they applied the glue they would pour the glitter over these boxes to try to contain the mess. How clever!


Another group of kids concentrating on getting their colors correct at the T-Rex rod puppet table. So cute!


Here's a close up of a very focused color-er.

Enjoy!

Puppet crafts!

Another shot of my craft table. All set for making the T-Rex Rod Puppet.


I love the look this little girl is giving me--it's a little "Can't you see I'm BUSY" and a little "What do you think you're doing?!". Hilarious!!


At last! A little smile!

You can make a T-Rex Rod puppet too! Visit the Swazzle Workshop!

What I did during my Winter vacation!

During this Holiday season, I had the opportunity to assist in a puppet workshop for children! For the next few days, I'll be posting the pics from that event, starting with these!







We made puppets featured in the Swazzle Workshop; The T-Rex Rod puppet & the Mice Finger puppets. We also made Steve the Snowball from Frosty's 12 Days of Christmas Podcast!

Enjoy!

The Wall!

Here's a close up of the "stone" wall for the "Door to my Heart" Walnut's Workshop set. On the table are various props from other puppet shows, including some food from "Prairie Dog Pete and the Magic Buffalo" some left over Tyrannosarus Rex teeth from "Harry and the Tyrannosaurus Rex", and the fishing basket from "Polly Polar Bear and the Prince of the sea". If you look throught the window you can see the background painting from our "Hazel and the Dragon" puppet show...which was painted by Patrick.

Enjoy!

Me, snapping Sean, who's snapping Patrick...

Another shot of Patrick adding the bunting to create the "ceiling" of Walnut's workshop for our puppet video "Door to my Heart".

You can also see more of the props we used. Many of them were culled from other Puppet shows; The baskets from our retired "Legend of St. Nicholas" puppet show, the pile of gold from "Prairie Dog Pete and the Magic Buffalo". On Walnut's wall you can see the fishing net from "Polly Polar Bear and the Prince of the Sea".

Be sure to watch the puppet video "Door to my Heart" if you haven't seen it yet!

Reaching new heights!

In this behind the scenes pic from Swazzle's puppet video "Door to my Heart", Patrick Johnson prepares to adjust the bunting that 'creates' the ceiling in Walnut's workshop.

"Door to my Heart"

Last year, we shot a little video for puppetgreetings called "Door to my Heart" featuring puppets from our puppet show "Hazel and the Dragon". I had some camera issues shortly after it was shot, and couldn't post the pics of it. FINALLY, I've managed to get those pics OFF my old, busted, camera and onto the blog!

The pic above is Sean prepping Hazel for her scene in the puppet video and the pic below is Sean repairing Hazel's eye lash, which he noticed needed replacing while he was prepping her.



To watch "Door to my Heart" on YouTube, click HERE.

OOBI

I read about this show, Oobi on Noggin. I TiVo'd it (if you've read my last few posts, you'll know I've got the TiVo going FULL ON!)

At first glance, I had some difficulty with the shows "puppets" being mostly naked hands--it just threw me. Once I settled into the show, I was captivated by the smallest things; the way the finger would point to the object Oobi was indicating, the way Grampu held things with the thumb and pinkie finger--maintaining the "mouth" of the puppet the entire time! Just sweet, and simple, and brilliant! I laughed out loud when the group was camping out in a little tent, and the Oobi needed to wake Grampu up--the way that hand curled back into position was just so funny!

The speech pattern took some getting used to as well, they use that toddler speak--words just drop out of the sentence. And yet, the point is made and much is said without BEING said. It was amazing for me to realize how much I fall back on words to get my performance. Here, the cast does not have that luxury and I am enchanted, awed, and inspired by it!

Who knew having the sniffles would lead to my discovering such a gem!

Oobi was created by Little Airplane and was masterminded by Josh Selig

The puppets are performed as follows (per IMDB); Oobi: Tim Lagasse, Uma: Stephanie D'Abruzzo, Grampu: Tyler Bunch, Kako: Noel McNeal. There are additional voices and puppeteers credited, you can read them here.

Sheldon The Grumpy Squirrel

The TiVo'ing paid off! I caught my first episode of "Jack's Big Music Show" and it's ADORABLE!! The episode I saw matches the title of this post. In it, Jack, Mel, and Mary (that's the gang of the show), have a run-in with one of Jack's neighbors; Sheldon, the Grumpy Squirrel. Sheldon the Grumpy Squirrel HATES music and uses a device to whisk anything that plays music on it away. I won't ruin the rest of the episode for you but, it's a cutie! The sets are nice and bright, and the puppets are just too, too cute. I want puppet toys of all of them! The cast consists of Jack (played by David Rudman--also the Producer and the Director), Mary (played by Alice Dinnean), and Mel (played by John Kennedy). For a complete credit list from this episode (per IMDB), click HERE.

Jack's Big Music Show is produced by Spiffy Pictures for Noggin.

Jack's Big Music Show

EEK! The Holiday Season was keeping me hopping! So, now that it's OVER, I can be good and post again! Where did all the hours in the day go? yesh.

Whilst I was spending the Holidays with family and friends, I caught an add for Jack's Big Music Show on Noggin. I have yet to WATCH this show...I'm going to TiVo it and check it out! The puppets just look adorable! If you've seen this little guy's show, let me know what you think about it!

There are just tons of puppet shows on Noggin! Time to burn up some memory on the TiVo and then report what I've seen!