Dec 22 2008
Play to learn!
What child doesn’t love to play? Studies have shown that kids learn through play, but unfortunately, we adults try to separate the two - learning and play.
I found an interesting website, Puppetools, that is dedicated to recapturing fun in learning.
The site provides patterns and information for making puppets and using them to make learning fun.
My kids already love puppets, but the site has some neat ideas, inspiration and motivation - especially if craftiness isn’t your thing.
The patterns are for paper puppets, but they could easily be made from felt or fabric for greater durability and length of play.
It’s an interesting site to take a look at, although I found it a bit difficult to maneuver within. They do have some neat puppet patterns and a really neat pattern for a paper hinge to create for the puppets.
In addition, the site offers a web subscription for $99 per year or $20 for a 60-day trial. I don’t think those are options I’d spend my money on, but it’s worth checking out. The main thing I liked about Puppetools was the information and reminders about the value of play and the role puppets can have in helping children learn.
I guess I need to go dig out our own puppet stage out of the shed and find where all of our fabric puppets have disappeared to. Sounds like a good time to put together some more paper puppets. . .
