paper puppets (for kids)

I taught 3 kindergarten classes today....whew, it's hard work! They're so young and even cutting can be a challenge. The first 2 classes, the teachers wanted small groups (4-6), so only a few kids got to go at a time and we'll take 3 weeks to cycle through everyone (class size is 30 kids in each class....yikes! Too many kids!). The third teacher insisted that we all work together which was much less fun for the kids (she insisted that I made them all sit in a circle and wait their turn to go to the scissor station, the google eye station, the puff-ball station, etc....) At least they did not have to wait until week 2 or 3, though.

To start out the lesson, I did a puppet show adaptation of "Caps for Sale," using puppets made of paper and paper plates....so they could get an idea of the kind of puppets that they could make with paper. Here's a photo of my monkey. I decided to only make a head and an arm, since that was all they could get to today, anyway.

I love watching their personalities coming out when they are making art. And I also loved how much they get into the story....little kids LOVE the monkey and the sound that he makes in this story. They giggled soooooo much! cute!

to make a mask...

Last week, on a sunny, fantastic day, I had one of the actors from Giant Bones, Chris Struett, over to cast a mold of his face. This is only the first step, and it's essential so I can get the sizing of the mask right and so that it's comfortable for him to wear it. I haven't decided on the design of the actual mask yet (that will come easily when I get out some clay and start to play with it), but I've got some ideas....something classic and ancient looking, as this is for the scene when he will play a character from a myth of a time when giants roamed the earth with humans....