-Movement exercises 3

-Eye level 3

-Using the arms 3

-Developing character emotions and movements 3/4

-Thinking about different environments 4

-Improvising Scenes 4/5

-Developing a Character 5/6

-Developing a storyline 6-8

-Staging ideas 8/9

Prince's Foundation START project

Resources Pack for Teachers

Created by Gemma Khawaja

2 x sheets of Newspaper per child for the head

1 x sheet of Coloured tissue paper to cover the head

1 x bamboo cane stick for head

2 x Cardboard tubes for body- 1 of the tubes has holes punched in it.

1 x Piece of rope for the arms

2 x Thin sticks for the arm rods

2 x elastic bands to join arm rods to the rope

Costume fabric pieces

If you do need to re-make some of the puppets, below is a list of the equipment needed for

making the 'blank' puppet and a basic 'step-by-step' refresher.

Step 1- Scrunch up newspaper to make puppet head shape

Step 2- Join head to the stick

Step 3- Cover with coloured tissue and secure with tape

Step 4- Trim off excess tissue

Step 5- Add 'Shoulders' tube

Step 6- Add 'Hips' tube

Step 7- Add rope arms- threaded through holes on top of the 'Shoulders' tube

Step 8- Join the arm control rods to each end of the rope

Step 9- Add a basic costume tabard

Step- 10- Decorate!

Tips

You may notice that things keep falling off your puppets whilst you are using them! Oh dear!

This often happens on the puppet heads because the tissue is weak and tears- thus causing

heavy things to fall off.

A good way to strengthen your puppets is to dab watered-down PVA glue all over the tissue

head. This will make the tissue bond more solidly with the newspaper underneath and will

hopefully prevent further bits falling off the puppet head.

You can glue extra bits of tissue paper on to repair big rips and holes in the tissue.

PVA dries clear- so you can put it over the buttons and other decorative materials already glued

on to the puppet head.

You can use a glue gun to glue back on buttons or beads or anything that has fallen off the

puppets, however- PVA is actually better then the glue guns if you are able to leave the puppet

to dry fully.

Try mending with PVA where possible. Glue guns are good if there is a heavy item to stick back

on the puppet.

2

(with Zannie, Shane or Gemma)

Below (in black) is a refresher of some of the performance skills you may have tried out with

Zannie, Shane or Gemma.

Come back to these exercises whenever the pupils need a quick refresher on using their

puppets.

-Start with how to hold the puppet- Centre rod with one hand and either both arm rods in one

hand or just one arm rod in one hand

-Practice making the puppet look to the left and to the right- then practice making it look all

around.

Exercise ideas:

Move your own hand/arm fluidly through the air and walk slowly around the space. Ask the

pupils to make their puppets watch your hand moving around. (The pupils should not move

around the space- just the puppet should turn to watch your hand move around the space).

-Ask pupils to work in pairs (or 3’s) to practice making their puppet look at their partner. The

child not using their puppet will move into different static positions and hold them- then the

puppeteer will try to make the puppet look at them and they will give feedback on where the

puppet is looking.

-Ask the group to make their puppets wave- puppeteers will need one hand on the centre rod

and one hand on one arm rod to do this.

-Ask them to swap over to wave with the puppets other arm- (without crossing their own hands)

-Ask them to make the puppet touch its head

-Make the puppets cheer with their arms in the air- -puppeteers will need one hand on the

centre rod and will hold both arm rods in one hand.

-Stand everyone in a line and get the puppets to do a Mexican wave going one way and then

back again.

-Introduce sound to the Mexican wave

-Get the group to practice making their puppet walk- (you might need to ask the pupils to

remain fairly static themselves if space is tight. Encourage them to hold the puppet high above

their head)

-Initially focus on the basic walking movement of the puppet- then call out some of the following

variations:

SLOW FAST JUMPING GLIDING HAPPY

SAD ANGRY FRIGHTENED SKIPPING SEARCHING

TIPTOEING/QUIETLY STAMPING/NOISILY

3

Start each group making their puppet walk naturally then call out different sequences of

movement instructions to them such as:

After everyone has had a go, put on some music and try out some music and movement

exercises- focussing on how the puppets might move to the different styles of music.

Talk about places/environments where the puppets might be and get everyone to have a go at

making their puppet simply walk and then react to the following different environmental things

called out:

In the performance skills session- we showed some different template scenes on the over head

projector (water, trees, etc) and talked about how you can create simple shadow scenery.

Using simple projected scenes and music is a good way to get the pupils to improvise scenes with

their puppets.

Using the puppets to respond to the setting and to the quality of music is a good way of creating

different atmospheres. The same setting can feel very different depending on the style of music

used.

In the performance skills session, there were opportunities for the pupils to improvise short scenes

together using their puppets.

-Loud, clear voices and different voices for the characters.

-Clear movements (sometimes less is more).

-Clarity is important in group scenes to help the audience understand which puppet is talking.

Group scenes worked best when the puppet talking was animated, using gestures to support the

dialogue and when characters did not speak over each other.

4

When making your puppet show. It is important to establish the characters are. It is the

characters and their personality which will drive the action of the story so each participant needs to

begin with a strong idea of who their character is.

During the Performance skills sessions, some of the following exercises were tried out to support

the children to create a character:

-Pupils worked in pairs to think about and discuss their puppets character. They can ask each

other questions about their puppets to help develop a character or improvise a scene where their

puppets meet each other and ask each other questions.

-Pupils presented their puppets either alone, in pairs or as part of an improvised scene.

-If it is helpful- the presentation can involve puppet ‘hot-seating’ exercise where ‘audience’ can put

questions to the puppet characters.

A useful exercise is to ask pupils to create a written character profile. This can be in the form of a

fact file. A good way into the activity is to ask pupils to begin by drawing their puppet character or

photographing their puppet. An activity template is provided at the end of this pack if you need it.

-Does your puppet have a name?

-Is it old or young?

-Friendly or unfriendly?

-Good or bad?

-Happy or sad?

-Human or non human?

-Fast or slow?

-Big or small?

-Does your puppet have a special ability?

-Magic or super powers?

-Where is your puppet from?

-Earth or somewhere else?

The above heading highlights 3 areas that are very important when creating a show. Pupils need

to try out ideas in front of each other and receive feedback. It is important pupils give each other

feedback to develop a critical attitude towards their piece.

-Fighting scenes- It often became very unclear when puppets started to fight! At these points, the

most damage happened to the puppets too.

Remember that in film fight scenes- the actors are not really fighting, they are using

choreography. If you want your puppets to fight, you must carefully choreograph the scene, one

move at a time.

Try using slow motion as an effect in fight scenes too.

5

-Ask everyone to present their puppet character to the group.

-Encourage feedback and discussion about what aspects come across most clearly.

-Put 4/5 pupils together in a group. This is a good opportunity to team up pupils who might not

normally work with each other.

-Give them a few moments to discuss their characters with each other.

-Set the task of them creating a short story involving all of their characters. Set this as a quick

exercise (10 mins max planning time).

PRESENTATION: Clear introduction of each character- think about bringing characters into the

scene and about how they exit the scene

PERFORMANCE: Clear interaction between the different characters- loud voices and clear

movements

PREMISE: Each story should clearly convey good reasoning for why the characters happen to

be together in the story

-The characters don't all have to be in the scene at the same time

-The characters have to convey what is happening either through their actions or words

-You can use a narrator character if it is helpful

Now you have established WHO the chracters are. The next thing to work on is WHAT happens in

the story.

The easiest way to make a story in this context, is for the story to grow out of the improvised

interactions between the different characters.

When each group has had time to improvise with their puppets, firmly decide who will be in each

group.

Aim for approximately 9 people per group. If you have a strong idea, it is fine to do a whole class

piece but generally, working in smaller groups is easier.

6

-Each group should aim to create a piece that lasts up to 5 mins. (10 minutes should be the

absolute maximum duration for each show).

-After improvising and trying out ideas together, each group should be able to establish is in

the story, happens and the story takes place.

A story-board is a rough draft of the story, using pictures and short descriptions of each scene/point

in the story.

There is a story-board template at the back of this pack if you need it.

Aim to use a maximum of 8 boxes on the story-board. The point of the story-board is that it is a

succinct, ' ' version of the story. Don't get bogged down with including small details in the

story-board. Use it to focus on the core events.

-You can even try making a 3 x box story-board to hone in on the core moments of the story.

-Story-boards are supposed to be 'Working Documents'. This means they can be added to and

adapted as part of the ongoing story creation process.

-Having a giant-sized story-board is often helpful (1 x page of A4 per square) as then changes and

new additions can be stuck on more effectively.

-Whatever size your story-board is- draw the frame first but make each picture on a separate piece

of paper to stick on with blue tack. This makes it easier to change the sequence of events, add

new events and get rid of events you no longer want in the story.

Use the story-board to create a clear beginning, middle and end point for the story.

Try drawing these points first and sticking them on. Then work out what the 'in between' scenes will

be.

Tension (in this context) means - something that happens to draw us in to the story such as an

unexpected twist, a quest, a dark moment....something which creates a problem for the characters

to overcome.

Resolution (in this context) means overcoming the 'tension' presented in the story and creating a

satisfactory ending for the story.

Set the following Creative Writing exercises when you are ready

-Ask pupils to write their own version of their group puppet story. Get them to focus on details,

description and character dialogue.

This exercise helps pupils fix the story sequence of events and helps them start to visualise the

piece. Describing the settings at this point helps to clarify where the story takes place.

-Ask pupils to write their own character dialogue.

This exercise helps pupils begin to create a script and to begin to edit their work.

When everyone has some dialogue written for their character, try a ' ' of the story. Do

not act it out with the puppets at this stage. Simply look at the storyboard and read through the

dialogues in order. A read-through will reveal any missing parts and will also reveal any dialogue

that is too long and needs to be edited.

7

Try a ' '. This is where each group goes slowly through their piece, using their

puppets, the correct dialogue and making sure they come on and go off at the right moments.

This is a way of blocking out where everyone needs to be.

At this stage- you are ready to keep rehearsing the pieces and to start thinking of settings.

Think about how you want to present your puppet shows. Keep the staging elements as simple

as possible.

Remember it does not matter if the puppeteers can be seen.

In the performance skills session, we used a playboard to create the staging.

-To create simple staging and levels- you can use chairs and tables covered over with material.

-Stack a table upside down on to another table and then you can tie material in between the

upturned legs.

-Use white sheets if you think you might want to project scenery on to the material.

-If you don't want any staging but would like to have projected scenery, then tie a white sheet

across the space.

-If you have nowhere to tie a sheet, then two people can hold the sheet taut. It might help if the

sheet is fastened to a long piece of bamboo or cane. That way, it is easier to keep the sheet

straight and taut and to quickly be able to lift up and put down a flat screen projection area when

needed.

It is important to think about WHERE your

story takes place. Now you have

established WHO is in the STORY and

WHAT happens, think about WHERE the

story takes place.

-You can create simple scenery by drawing

and painting on to card, cutting out and

holding it up.

-You can stick your scenery on to individual

canes to hold items up.

-You can fasten multiple items to a single,

long cane- either dangling from string (see

stars illustration) or glued flat to the cane to

make an upright, line (see trees

illustration).

Each cane can then be held up across the

length of the space by 2 people. This will

create a scene for puppets to interact in.

8

You can also project simple shadow scenery on to a whiteboard, white background or a white

sheet, as demonstrated in the performance skills session.

Each group should now have established the , and for their story.

(The WHO, WHAT and WHERE).

Rehearse as often as you can and remember- it is just as important to rehearse the 'bits in

between the scenes' as well as the scenes themselves.

-Getting puppets on and off in the right sequence and at the right time

-Standing in fixed positions when more than one puppeteer is in a scene

-Deciding where people wait when they are not in the scene

-Making sure someone is responsible for music and scene changing if applicable in your piece

If you don't want to use staging or scenery, you need to consider how you will define when the

characters are ON and OFF stage.

-Ensure characters are held high when they are on stage and that you have a neutral position

for both the puppets AND the performers to assume as soon as they are off the stage- such as

performers sitting down and puppet on the floor or performers turning their backs to the

audience whilst waiting to enter the scene.

This will help the piece stay clear to your audience.

-Use card cut outs, acetate and coloured cellophane to create simple scenery to place on an

over head projector.

-Quality Street sweet wrappers are a good source of coloured cellophane!

-You can also use glass paint and acetate pens

-Choose your materials carefully, as tissue paper and normal felt tip pens will usually show up

as black regardless of their colour

-Look for materials that make interesting patterns when placed on the OHP- such as lace

-Remember you can use normal photographs to create different scenes.

-Save photographs on to your class computer and then project them on to the whiteboard to

create different sequences

-Children can even draw and paint their own picture scenery which can then be photographed

(or scanned) in order to create a jpeg image which can be projected on to the whiteboard

9

-Practice how to make your puppet move and how it speaks.

-How does your puppet meet and interact with other puppets?

-Hot seating- This is where pupils take it in turn to ask each other's puppets questions. This

activity can progress to puppet interviews!

Call out different scenarios for the puppets to improvise in

-Going swimming -Space adventure

-Choreograph a fight scene between 2 puppets (movement by movement)

-Next try a dance scene.

-Did you know you can choreograph sound to create crowd scenes too?

-Give each pupil one or two lines that they will repeat in the scene. Point to each pupil in turn

when you want them to say their line, use your hands to conduct the volume of the scene.

It is always nice to have a record of your work processes.

Encourage the children to keep a creative sketchbook for recording their character script,

dialogue and songs created for their piece.

Try to photograph rehearsal sessions.

Display character fact files and photographs of the puppets. Display story-boards when they

have been finalised.

Note down the activities which work best for your class and any interesting comments made by

the children. Also note down how activities could be improved.

Invite other classes in to see and give feedback on work in progress.

Create press releases, posters and adverts for your shows. You can even include interviews

with puppeteers and the puppets.

10

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