Need some tips on operating a puppet?
* Practice before your debut! Bring the puppet home and sit in front of a mirror with a book in your hand. Practice holding the book and showing it to the puppet. Practice turning pages and using the puppet to keep them steady. Practicing in advance will give you confidence in front of your audience!
* To keep the character looking real, make sure your mascot looks down at the book he’s reading. Actually move the characters head to follow along the sentences and down the page. When you turn the page, Have the character watch the page move. This does actually help to give it life and make it more “real”!
If using a puppet to read the books sounds complicated (it’s NOT! Really!), you can still incorporate a mascot into your programs! Once you pick a puppet, you can hold a naming raffle and offer the children a chance to enter names for the character! If you hold regular drawings for reading prizes, you can have the mascot pick the names and read them out (he or she can also congratulate the winners!). Your mascot can offer book suggestions that change weekly! Children can make reading suggestions to your mascot! The possibilities are limited only by a lack of imagination!
Have fun and your audience will as well!
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Labels: Mr. Anderson's Company, Puppet Tales, puppets, storytelling
