Puppetry and Fairy Tales, Grades 3-6
Title: The Puppet Place
Description: Students listen
to traditional fairy tales, write scripts, design scenery,
and make stick puppets for their own puppet show.
Objectives:
- To promote student interest in writing through drama
and art
- To encourage students to be creative in art, drama, and
writing
- To show students how to use technology for word processing
and scanning
- To work cooperatively to plan a puppet show
- To increase self-confidence by having students present
a show
Software and Hardware: computers,
printer, word processing software (Optional--scanner)
Other Needs: photocopier,
fairy tales; materials for background and puppets such as paper, paper
tubes, cloth, sticks, pictures which may be used for character scans (Optional--puppet
stage)
Time Required: will vary depending
upon the project
Procedures:
Over a period of time, read fairy tales to the students
and discuss the characters, plot, and scenes. Divide
the students into groups and tell them that they are
going to design their own puppets for a fairy tale play. Ask them to look
at home and in the school library for pictures they might want to use for
their puppet designs.
Have the students use a program such as Kid Pix to create
characters similar to the one they collected. They may also draw their
own characters by hand. If a scanner is available, use pictures students
brought in and pictures you have collected to show the students how to
scan a picture. Show the students how they might change the picture to
suit their ideas about a character. For example, they might add a beard
or glasses, change a hairstyle, etc. Show them how to print the picture
and enlarge it on a photocopier.
Once the characters are complete, the groups should color
and decorate them, and attach them with glue to the
sticks. (You will probably want to add a thin cardboard backing to the
characters.) Part of the stick should be free at the base of the character
so that a student puppeteer may hold the stick.
After the casts are ready in the form of stick puppets,
have the students write their own fairy tale puppet
play featuring the characters they have created. Give
each group time to get together to discuss plot construction. Let the groups use computers to put down ideas. After the story
ideas are ready, read dialog from selected fairy tales
to show the students how to use the own dialog to
create a play. Have the students in the groups write and edit
scripts.
If you wish the students to make background scenes for
their play, drawing of scenes may be placed on a roll of paper and then
attached to two paper towel tubes. Longer tubes may be obtained from wider
rolls of plastic or aluminum wrap.
Give the groups time to hold rehearsals for their puppet
shows. Practice with the students on expression and
speaking to audiences. Invite parents, grandparents,
and friends of the students to Puppet Place for a special show.
Follow-up/Extensions: Once
the puppets have been made for one show, you may wish to have the students
write and perform other scripts using these puppets. They may enjoy giving
shows for younger students.
Adaption: The lesson could
be adapted for a variety of subject areas. If a computer
lab and/or enough computers for groups work are not available,
a class puppet play created using one classroom computer. Be sure that
in the class play there are enough parts for every student in the class.
That's so important.
Suggestions for Parents:
Your children will love to do many of the activities suggested in this
lesson at home. Creating puppets, writing short plays, and especially,
putting on plays for your family, will be great fun for them. You'll be
amazed at their creativity and in their wonderful enthusiasm for this type
of learning activity.
Submitted by:
Rebecca Tittermary
Grade 5 Teacher
Worcester Country School
Berlin, Maryland 21811
Lesson Plan Disclaimer
