Q. What was the Spider doing on the computer? A. Searching the web. Maybe the spider was looking for some kindergarten readiness fun and bug learning activities! Just in case you can’t recognize the picture, it is a spider puppet made from 2 circles of fabric with 8 legs cut from bag handles and 2 button eyes.
A more important question is what can kids learn when they are playing with puppets?
- Puppets encourage lots of conversation. Children practice taking turns as they speak. then the puppet does. Kids learn how to ask questions and give answers.
- Children need to put themselves in the place of the puppet. This is trying out how something looks from someone else’s point of view, a very important social skill.
- There’s lots of pretending, imagining and interacting.
- The puppet can also encourage different ways to move and use space.
No matter what you use to create a puppet: old socks, bags, stuffies, etc. or if your child has some already, you can extend your child’s play by asking about the puppet: What is its name? Does it have a friend? What does it like to do, eat, etc? Model for your child some different voices, low, high, fast, sleepy, and more. You and your child may want to take turns being the voice of the puppet. Make 2 and have conversations with them or 1 or 2 kids can be both puppets. Is the puppet having an adventure? How about you and your little one?