Puppet News: Improv and No Strings Attached

We have 6 new puppet videos to share!

In these new video clips with the Incredible Years puppets, Carolyn Webster-Stratton, the developer of the Incredible Years programs, talks to the child puppets about their feelings. She encourages the child puppets to share their feelings in response to the Covid-19 virus and helps them remember times when they have felt nervous, or lonely, or afraid in the past and how they have learned to cope with those uncomfortable feelings in order to feel safe, less bored, patient, fair, less lonely, brave and supported.

Teachers can share these video clips with other children in an interactive way. Teachers or child therapists can pause the video clip when the puppet is talking about a particular uncomfortable feeling such as boredom or nervousness or unfairness or loneliness or feeling unsafe to talk about the children’s own feelings at this time. When the child puppet shares ways to cope with these feelings the teacher can encourage their students to share their solutions for ways they can think and behave in order to feel better.

Teachers and parents may also watch these vignettes to learn ways they can use puppets themselves with their children or students to address their specific feelings. Since children ages 4-8 years are cognitively in what Piaget calls the pre-operational stage of cognitive brain development, the use of pretend and imaginative play can be a powerful way of helping children to talk about their feelings and for learning ways to not only manage any uncomfortable feelings but also ways to manage their behavior responses in healthy ways. We hope to encourage children to write about or draw pictures about their solutions and share them with others.

Hot Tip: With puppets you can open the door to helping children talk about their feelings or to write stories about or draw pictures about their experiences. It is important not to pressure these discussions and to focus when possible on positive feelings such as being brave, confident, strong, healthy, helpful, caring, happy, curious, creative, patient and loving.

Download Sample Scripts for Using Puppets to Talk with Children about Feelings

Molly Talks About Feeling Safe

Luciana Talks About Feeling Nervous

Felicity Talks About Feeling Lonely

Wally Talks About Feeling Bored

Freddy Talks About Feeling Impatient

Antonio Talks About Feeling It’s Not Fair

Please see our Resources for Group Leaders Working Remotely for handouts and activities for connecting with children and families.