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Laying there in the box, Joey and Eric didn’t seem too impressive. Their flimsy bodies were wrinkled and their wiggly eyes still. Quietly, I slipped my hands inside their bodies and lifted them. With a twist of my wrist, the motionless figures came alive! Like all puppets, they depended on the puppeteer to help them create an illusion of life.

Moving-mouth puppets are very common because they are readily available and easy to work with. All you need to do to give a moving-mouth puppet the appearance of life is to open and close the mouth to match up with the words that are being spoken. Each movement of the mouth should correspond with a syllable of the word.

Here is an example. For the puppet to say “Hi,” its mouth should be open once and closed. To say “today,” the mouth should be opened twice, once for each syllable. Experiment by using the puppet to say “Hi, how are you today?” For this sentence the mouth should be opened a total of six times. Make sure to close the mouth completely when the phrase ends.

To practice, choose a familiar song, preferably a slow one, and have the puppet “sing” it as you open and close his mouth in time with the music. Once you feel comfortable doing this, you have the art of puppetry well in hand. (No pun intended!)

Glove puppets are also common, but they are significantly different than moving-mouth puppets. With glove puppets you will use your thumb and middle fingers as arms for the puppet, and your index finger will simulate the head movements. With no mouth to open, the gestures and body language will be more important for making glove puppets interesting.

To simulate life you should cause the puppets hands to move during talking, and also use some light head nodding. Don’t move the puppets head sharply as it can be too intense and distracting for watchers.

Stick puppets and finger puppets depend on a simple back and forth movement, or a side-to-side twisting of your wrist, bowing or swaying to bring them to life. Movement is the key to believability and realism. All puppets can give the illusion of life if they are moved properly.

Regardless of what type of puppets you are using, always follow these principles.

(1) Be sure to keep each figure on stage “alive” even when it isn’t his turn to speak. A gentle nod of agreement or disapproval, a turn of the head, or slight wave of the hand will keep a puppet from turning to stone and becoming uninteresting.

(2) Allow the audience to see each puppet on stage. It’s helpful for the audience if the speaking puppet is facing them, but puppets can face each other during dialog.

(3) Keep the above the stage. Throughout the show your arms may get tired, so pay attention to their height to make sure they do not slip too far down.

(4) Having the puppets walk on and off the stage is important for realism. Use a gentle bouncing motion as the enter and exit rather than quickly moving them in and out rigidly.

As I put Joey and Eric back in the calico box, I saw how much they needed me and a verse tiptoed through my thoughts. Jesus said, ” . . . without me ye can do nothing.” Indeed HE is my source of life and strength.

Thank You Father for being that source of life and strength for me, and for this simple reminder.

Dr. Ann Shorb provides Christian counseling services in Hanover, Pennsylvania. She has extensive experience as a counselor, speaker, and writer. Her website includes puppet scripts, some are free and others can be purchased.

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