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The key is to make learning fun, educational experts suggest, a difficult task considering the plenitude of options — video games, television, videos and Internet — that children have on their entertainment buffet these days. In many ways, reading has become the mystery meat, a last resort that kids won’t choose if they don’t have to.
“The goal is to get children to reach for a book instead of a remote,” says Amy Epstein, owner of The Straight Edge Inc., a company trying to reverse the trend.
Puppets give children an outlet they could never find in static mediums such as television, video games or even storybooks: they allow them to act and imagine using something tangible.
Using puppets, “the child is the director of the action and the audience. It is nice to have something to handle, to manipulate the characters, because a book can be a very passive thing,” Epstein notes.
Moreover, puppets are valuable beyond the imaginative outlet they give children, says Carolyn Frank, founder of Puppet Partners (ToyDirectory), a puppet manufacturer.
“Puppets are a good way to present ideas,” she says. “They are a phenomenon — they are real, and real life puppets capture kids’ attention even more than video because they are really there, they are in front of you, they have come to life. ... Maybe if [children] had puppets every day it would become old hat but today videos are old hat.”
The following products combine puppets and storybooks in novel ways.
The Frog Prince Book and Puppet Theater by THE STRAIGHT EDGE INC.Packaged in a transparent handle bag, this set includes a book, finger puppets, stand-up story props and a two-sided theater backdrop. The company has two titles, "The Frog Prince," which comes with a two-sided puppet (on one side the frog, on the other the prince), and "Cinderbear." The books are wonderfully illustrated, with an emphasis on the visual as opposed to the textual. Children are encouraged to use the puppets to act out the story contained in the books, using imagination, voices and movement to bring these classic tales to life. 5/9/2005 (MSRP: $15.99)
Believe in Yourself by JOY STORIES
Combining storybooks with finger puppets and an audio book on compact disc, Joy Stories encourages imagination and positive psychology. Believe In Yourself is a story of a sea turtle that struggles to overcome obstacles to reach the ocean from its sandy nest. This story models the skills children can use to overcome obstacles in their own lives. 5/9/2005
Barnyard Boogie by ACCORD PUBLISHING LTD.
Barnyard Boogie combines a book and a puppet in one product by featuring book puppets. The book has a velour outside and latex inside for easy cleaning. Kids open the book and slide hands into the hole on every page, matching the animal to the sound it makes. 5/9/2005
Miss Muffet Learns About 5-A-Day by GET READY KIDSPuppet Partners merges pre-recorded puppet plays on compact disc with puppets, presenting delicate subjects to children from preschool age up to middle school. 5/9/2005
Ten Little Dinosaurs Gift Set by ACCORD PUBLISHING LTD.
Ten Little Dinosaurs features 11 finger puppets and one board book. Ten of the finger puppets are dinosaurs and one is the paleontologist. This product has won numerous awards. It was named to the Publishers Weekly Top 10 List, won the Children´s Choice Award - 1st Place, and was a Colorado Book Award Winner and Dr. Toy Award Winner. 5/9/2005
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