For my community outreach for the residency, I decided to do a 3 hour Puppet Building Workshop with students from Workmans Primary. The students were from both Class 3 and Class 4.

As part of my preparation, I made a test puppet. I wanted it to be a simple hand puppet that I thought the students would be able to make themselves. I used fabric, felt and construction paper.

On the day of the workshop, I had the assistance of Fresh Milk volunteers Versia and Ronald, and they were a great help.

I started by teaching the students about 3 different types of puppets, and doing a brief demonstration of how they worked using puppets I have made. They took notes, and were interested in trying to operate the puppets themselves. Then we got started making their hand puppets.

The students cut out their templates for the glove part of the puppet, and traced them onto the fabric, and we helped them cut and glue the fabric. They drew the designs for their puppets, and then cut the shapes for the heads and hands, and decorated them using felt, paper, and crayons.

The workshop was really well received. The students were enthusiastic, and excited about the puppets, and we had a great time. Thanks to Versia and Ronald for their help as well as Annalee and the teachers at Workmans Primary.

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