‘Puppets- Not just for Sesame Street’
- Kids Inspired
- Aug 13
- 2 min read
Does everyone remember Sesame street? Did the theme song immediately start playing in your head??
Or did you ever watch ‘The Muppets?’ did you have a favourite? Kermit? Miss piggy? Gonzo?
The Muppets and Sesame street are SO engaging for kids, and on the surface, it can look super simple, puppets are big and colourful and so of course kids must love that right?
But surprisingly there’s a lot going on psychologically for kids when they engage with puppets.
Puppets are an amazing way for children to develop their language skills, practice social emotional skills, increase their imaginary play skills, problem solve, and foster empathy.
Piaget, a children’s developmental psychologist, highlighted that puppet play helps children develop creative and cognitive skills through use of imagination. At times children can find it easier to connect with a puppet rather than a person, this is a skill called ‘decentration’ which means they view the puppet as living separate from the person using the puppet, and the puppet has their own emotions/life.
Puppets are one of the tools that I LOVE using in therapy because they are so wonderfully and richly diverse! I have animal puppets to support children with feelings (“ooo you have picked a crocodile puppet; do you think crocodiles have angry feelings sometimes? Do you think people feel angry sometimes too?”)
And human puppets to have a chance to practice problem solving “this one looks like my friend at school Alex, we had a fight yesterday”.
Puppet play allows children to simply be in the moment, have fun and work through life’s challenges.
Next time you watch Sesame Street, reflect on what thoughts and feelings come up for you! Also have a look at some of the places I like to buy my puppets:
Karla Donaldson - Play Therapist at Kids Inspired
Comments