Finger Puppets
Finger puppets were designed after the popularity of hand puppets was continuing to rise. With finger puppets there was not stage needed and many puppeteers found this gave them the chance to interact with the children directly instead of just behind the scenes. It was also very simple to create various finger puppets. Yet controlling your fingers to make them appear to dance and interact with one another is something that is much harder than you might think. Some of the best finger puppet masters are able to have a finger puppet on all ten digits yet all of them are doing something different at the same time.
One of the reasons children enjoy finger puppets so much is that they can easily create them on their own and they can make them move easier than they can with other types of puppets. There are no moving parts on a finger puppet. This is especially true for children around 3 to 5 years of age. The song Ten Little Indians that works well to teach children to count can be done with ten little finger puppets to use while singing the song.
Another option to putting finger puppets on the actual fingers is to display them on sticks such as a popsicle stick. The child can easily wave the stick finger puppet up and down or pretend they are engaging in various other actions.
The famous puppets Punch and Judy were originally finger puppets. Their funny scripts including Judy saving Punch from his outlandish ideas are very entertaining. The story of Punch and Judy continue today but the puppets that the puppeteers use have changed dramatically. They still use some of the original scripts though and children are still very entertained by their antics.
If you are looking for an interesting and fun activity for your children at home, in the classroom, or at any event, consider allowing them to make finger puppets out of construction paper. You will be amazed at the imaginations children can use on finger puppets to bring their personalities to life.
