Building understanding

Using puppets to stimulate conversation

Primary

Communication and language

﻿Hello. My name is Kat and I'm going to be your teacher today. Today we're going to talk about puppets and how they can be used to stimulate conversation. We'll go through a sequence of different activities for you to try with your learner. For this lesson, you will need sock puppets. You could use the puppets made in the Making a Sock Puppet lesson. A piece of paper, a spoon, cups and any saucers, teapots, toy food items you have around the house. Press pause whilst you get things ready. Let's get ready. Find a quiet, comfortable space away from distractions. Gather your resources and have them nearby. Make sure you are comfortable. Press pause whilst you get things ready. It's time to look, listen, and learn. Activity one, puppet intensive interaction. For this activity you will need some sock puppets. Pause the video to complete your task. Gather the resources that you need. Resume once you're finished. Intensive interaction is a technique that was created by Dave Hewett and Melanie Nind to encourage nonverbal interaction and the development of language and communication key skills. It's typically used without any props, but it really lends itself to puppet-play and the use of puppets. So what you can do to facilitate this with your learner is give them one puppet and have one puppet for yourself and what you want to do is wait for them to do anything with their puppet, even a small little movement. You want to watch and then you want to mimic that with your puppet. So, for example, if they move it slightly to the left, you want to copy it with your puppet. If they wiggle it, you want to copy it. If they open the mouth, you're going to copy it. So it's really letting people, the learner, take the lead and realise that they're in charge, that they are engaging cause and effect in what they do with their puppet is going to be reflected in your puppet. And what you will see is the learner, then, experimenting with different things that they can try with their puppet to see it reflected in your puppet. This is a really great opportunity for you to introduce some speech if your learner is at that level. So if they say, "Hello," you want to respond with, "Hello." At this point, you're not trying to introduce lots of language, only use the words or the noises or the movements that your learner introduces first. I would take all time pressure off here. Don't feel rushed, just give the learner lots of time to explore this activity, lots of time to realise that they are leading the activity and that what they do controls your puppet and let them just enjoy that and have fun with that because there's lots and lots of learning that's going on there in terms of communication, in terms of turn taking, leading a conversation and initiation skills. Puppet hide and seek, activity two. For this activity, you will need sock puppets and some paper or you could use blankets or anything that you want to hide the puppet behind. Pause the video to complete your task. Gather the resources that you need. Resume once you're finished. So puppet hide and seek is a great way to engage your learner with a fun game which can also be really useful for language development. So you just want to get a piece of paper or a blanket or it could be a sofa or an object around the house, wherever you want to hide the puppet behind and initially, you just want to model to the learner the hide and seek game, which is where did he come from? And then back. And you want to model that excitement and that anticipation from yourself as well. As you model it, you can start to introduce some keywords and some anticipatory language. For example, one, two, three, there he is! And back. One, two, three, there he is! You could use ready, steady, go! And see if the learner can either vocalise or use the word, "Go," or perhaps, "one, two, and three," and to involve them in the activity and the motivation of the puppet and the hide and seek can be used then to encourage them to use that language. You could also pass the activity over to the learner, once you've shown them it a few times. If you need to support by holding the paper, or they could hold the paper themselves and they can have the puppet on their own hand and at this point, it's a great opportunity for you to introduce slightly more advanced language. So you could be saying, "Where is the puppet? "Where is he? "Where has he gone? "There he is!" And using that repetitive phrase of, "Where is the puppet?" And, "There he is." To engage in that language use with the learner whilst they're engaged and motivated by the game. And obviously, pass over to the learner as much as you can, see if they can join in with their, "There he is." Or, "Where is he?" So it can be a turn-taking call and response type game where you're saying, "Where's the puppet," and then when they bring the puppet out, see if they can say, "There he is!" So you're encouraging that call and response of the repetitive phrase. And obviously, have lots of fun with this. Use it for as long as your learner is interested and it's motivating them to use that language. Activity three, puppet Simon says. For this activity you will need sock puppets. Pause the video to complete your task. Gather the resources that you need. Resume once you're finished. So this is another great way to introduce some keywords and also some instructional language with your learner. So you want to start off with your two puppets, give them a name. So this is Billy and this is Bob and we want to start off modelling our expectations from the learner. So we're going to say, "Billy says, wriggle." And then both puppets can wriggle. "Uh, stop! "Billy says jump!" Jump, jump, jump, jump, jump, jump, jump and stop. "Billy says, "yawn." "Billy says, nod your head." And then what you want to do, you want to see if the learner is able to join in with the actions that you're doing with their puppet. Then you want to try and pass some of the control over to the learner. So, see if you can then say, "What does Bob say?" See if they can suggest what Bob might say. If you've already modelled some simple activities that the puppets can do, this makes it easier for the people so they don't have to generation brand new ideas of what to do with the puppets. So they can then use that repertoire that you've built up of wriggling, jumping, nodding the head and they can use that language that you've already modelled. And then you might want to push them to think of things that you haven't tried. So this might not be, at first, verbal, it might be something that they just move the puppet to do and then you could name it. So for example, if they if they were to hide, you could say, "Bob's hiding. "Bob says, hide." And then that's a new activity introduced into the game and a new word that you've introduced into the game that they can then be using. If you want to make it even more complex, you could make it an instruction, a full instruction that the learner has to give. So Bob says hide, rather than the learner just using the keyword hide. So again, they're getting practise there at giving verbal instructions and having them followed in a fun and exciting way. Activity four, puppet problem solving. For this activity you will need sock puppets, a spoon and a cup. Pause the video to complete your task. Gather the resources that you need. Resume once you're finished. Puppet problem solving is a great way to motivate some language and vocabulary out of your learner in a fun and engaging way and there's lots of different variations you can try. You just have to use some imagination and see what props you've got around the house. So I'm going to model one scenario and then you can think of some different ones yourself at home, think about what your learner would find funny or what would capture their interest the most. So for example, I'm going to set up a play scenario where I'm eating my breakfast. Mm, delicious. I'm just going to look over here. Hm. Very nice breakfast. Where has it, where has it gone? Where's my breakfast gone? Hm. I thought I had more left. I wonder what's happening to my breakfast. Hm. Naughty puppet has been eating my breakfast! Very naughty puppet. I hope he doesn't do it again. And then from there, you can expand the game, you can encourage them when the puppet is eating the breakfast to shout at the puppet, to tell the puppet off, to communicate to me that the puppet is eating my breakfast and really just create that that kind of game and that playfulness to encourage them to use the language to warn you about what the puppet is doing. And there's all sorts of different scenarios you could use. The puppet could be taking something off a plate. The puppet could be creeping up behind me. The puppet could be hiding and then peeking out when I'm not looking. So use your imagination and think of scenarios where the puppet is doing something that is clear to the learner that they shouldn't be doing so that they are motivated to tell you and tell the puppet off and use that language. Activity five, creating different characters. For this activity you will need a variety of sock puppets. Pause the video to complete your task. Gather the resources that you need. Resume once you're finished. Creating some different characters is a really lovely way to engage learners in the game and the playfulness of puppets whilst also encouraging some language use and some communication with both you and the puppet. So when creating different characters, you want to think of an emotion or a feeling or a characteristic that's easy to understand, easily accessible and can be repeated in lots of ways. So I'll show you some examples. This is Billy and he is a very hungry puppet, very, very hungry all the time. So what we do is we model to the learner what we do with Billy, which is feed him. So Billy, would you like some food? Yes. Here we go, get the pot. Mm. Didn't you like it? He didn't like that. Should we try something different? Mm. Oh, he likes that. Did you like that, Billy? Yes, he liked that. So you can see, there's a repetitive action here that you've modelled which is feeding the puppet and you can then control the puppet's responses which can be really exaggerated and playful and that is the concept of the game that you engage the learner in. Within that, once they're playing it, you've got lots of opportunities for language extension. So Billy, would you like some more? Or, Billy was that nice? So you can show how you can build in some communication there with the puppet and with yourself through the game. Other options are, this is Bob, a very sleepy puppet. Are you tired, Bob? Very tired. You want to go to sleep? Yes, he does. Can go to sleep. Wake up! And once you've modelled that game, again, that's something that the learner can then continue. So you put the puppet to sleep, and see if they can then initiate that, "Wake up!" And wake him up and they will enjoy the response and the playfulness of the puppet waking up which motivates them to use those keywords, "Wake up, Bob," and communicate. A third option is Lily, who's a very cheeky puppet. So Lily likes to tickle. Now this is not going to be something that all learners enjoy, but lots of learners do enjoy that tactile, physical element of play. So Lily could be the puppet that always tickles the learner and she could be building up anticipation, she could come near and then all of a sudden she could go, "Tickle, tickle, tickle, tickle, tickle." Perhaps on their face, perhaps on their arms or on their legs and if the learner enjoys that, they might then be able to use language to ask for more or to initiate more from the puppet somehow. So again, it's about building up that language use. Of course, once you've built up the characters, you can use them a few times, building up that understanding and that anticipation of what the puppet's going to do. You could also hand it over to the learner for the learner to then model what that puppet does and what they've seen that that puppet does, again, showing that they've learned and they've understood that this puppet is cheeky, this puppet is sleepy and this puppet is hungry and you can try all sorts of different things depending on what your learner responds best to. But the key is that once they're engaged with that puppet and they're enjoying that repetitive, simple game, that you can then use that to introduce language and communication with the puppet to ask for more or to ask the puppet questions or to give the puppet instructions. Activity six, hosting a puppet tea party. For this activity you will need sock puppets, spoons, cups and any other objects around the house that you have that you would be able to use in a tea party scenario. So, for example, toy food, toy cups and saucers, toy teapots. Set it out on a big tray, if you like, and add water so that they can be pouring from the teapot into the cups. Pause the video to complete your task. Gather the resources that you need and resume once you're finished. So a puppet tea party is a lovely way to bring together all of the learning that we've done in the previous activities. I'm just going to use a cup and a spoon and the puppets to show you that it can be done with really minimal equipment, but by all means, use things that you have around the house. Set up a whole table of tea party equipment or a big tray with water in, whatever you have to hand. So you want to just create a play scenario where the people, the learner is taking the lead and is initiating some of the skills that we've been practising . So you could introduce the puppets, perhaps have a couple of puppets come into the tea party and you could use those intense interactions skills that we've been talking about, first of all, to explore what's going on at the tea party. Then you could introduce some language and some of the instructional language that we've been practising . So for example, would you like a cup of tea? Yes please. Here we go. So you can use the props and the puppets to build up some conversational language and some instructional language around everyday things like cups of tea, cups of juice, biscuits, other things that you would have at a tea party. You could also introduce the characters that you've been making. So for example, who's coming to the tea party now? It's a very hungry Bob. He's going to eat everything. Oh no. But Lily's still feeling very cheeky, so maybe she's going to tickle Bob! Tickle tickle tickle tickle tickle. And so you can continue that buildup of the fun characters that you've created. So really, it's about using all of the skills that we've got that, in a play scenario, allowing the people to take the lead and just having some fun with the resources that you've created to practise some everyday, familiar language and a bit of instructional language, such as, could I have a cup of tea? Could I have a biscuit? Could I have some more? Would you like less? Would you like another cup? Is it hot? All these kind of language that you can build into the play to model it to the learner. To make this activity easier, minimise the language you're using with each slide and use keywords instead. Spend longer on each activity to allow the learner to engage and explore on their own terms. I would also focus on the earlier activities such as puppet intensive interaction, puppet hide and seek. To make it harder, repeat each activity a few times and see if the learner can predict what's going to happen next. Show the learner the images and slides and see if they can lead the activity themselves. You also want to be introducing more complex language using two keywords together, using instructional language and early numerical language such as more or less in the activity such as the tea party. Once you've made your puppets, you can use them for all sorts of fun activities and games. You could put on a puppet show or create a whole range of different characters. If you'd like to, please ask your parents or carer to share your work on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter tagging @OakNational and #LearnwithOak.

Using puppets to stimulate conversation

Using puppets to stimulate conversation

These resources will be removed by the end of the Spring Term 2026.

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