Hand Puppets & Puppet Shows

Series Summary

Puppets are inanimate objects used to tell a story in a play or presentation. Usually puppets are characters, but not always. The puppet is either operated directly by a person’s hand or indirectly by the use of strings or mechanical controls. There are many different kinds of puppets including the hand puppet. The function of controlling this puppet’s mouth and head is done by the puppeteer’s hand. If the puppet has arms, then these are usually controlled using the other hand or sometimes a rod or mechanical part will be used. There are other types of puppets including marionettes, supermarionation puppets, rod puppets, light curtain puppets, shadow puppets and ventriloquist dummies. In this series of educational videos, you will learn more about the art of puppetry. Our puppet expert relates an introduction to puppetry and then shows you the basics of holding a hand puppet. You can learn how to move the mouth of your puppet and how to lip sync appropriately. Watch a lesson on moving the puppet arms with rods and learn how to use body language for the puppet. Making eye contact is important in any kind of theater, and especially in puppetry. Get tips on this and many more aspects of puppet theater including dancing tips, glove arm action, voices and making puppets walk or run. Watch as our expert demonstrates tips for TV puppeteers.