There are many, many kinds of puppets. Puppetry is the art of bringing inanimate objects to life. Almost anything can become a puppet in the hands of a creative person.
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Types of puppets include:
- Marionettes, which are full-body puppets controlled from above with strings
- Hand Puppets where the puppeteer’s fingers operate two hands and the head. Mr. Rogers made these popular
- Shadow puppets where silhouettes are projected onto a screen
- Stick puppets. Here, a picture is glued to a tick and may or may not have moving parts.
- Sock Puppets are made out of socks decorated to look like animals or people.
- Hand Bag Puppets are basically a stick puppet placed through the top of a small bag. One hand controls the stick, the other becomes the puppet’s hand.
- Rod and arm puppets. These are the Muppet style puppets where the mouth is controlled by the puppeteer’s one hand while rods control the arms.
- Your Hand. Wenceslao Moreno, better known as Señor Wences, made a puppet out of his hand for his ventriloquist act. He put eyes and clothing on his hand and used it as a puppet.
- Finger puppets. These are small puppets that slide onto your fingers
- Glove puppets. These are puppets where your fingers control 4 legs and the head. They are basically a glove made to look like an animal.
- Ventriloquist hard figures. Charlie McCarthy is the classic example of this. They are carved out of hardwood and the mouth, eyes and other features are controlled by a stick coming down from the puppet’s head.
Not only is puppetry a very fascinating art form, but it’s also a unique communication tool. Whether you’re a performer or a teacher or a therapist or somebody who just wants to have fun.
Speaking through a puppet can be a very effective way of expressing yourself. You can say things as a puppet that you wouldn’t say as yourself.
Puppetry is an art form has been around for a long time. It’s this oldest storytelling. In fact, it’s quite ancient. Ancient.
Puppets can be as appealing to adults as they can to children and they can be as simple or as complicated as you want them to be.
What is a puppet?
A puppet is an inanimate object, which a puppeteer moves in such a way as to give it life.
There are many, many kinds of puppets. In fact, because it’s a folk art, anything’s possible.
Let’s look at some basic types of puppetry.
Hand Puppets
The simple hand puppet is a type of puppet which is operated from below with one hand. Usually, it’s the index and third finger in the neck, the thumb in one arm and the fourth hand, little finger in the other arm.
This means that if necessary, the puppeteer can perform with two characters at the same time and the hand puppet can pick up things.
It’s a good type of puppet to choose. If the audience is very young, the body stops mid-arm or at the wrist.
Hand puppets are easily transportable and can be easily stored.
Marionettes
The marionette is a full body puppet, which is animated from overhead with controls that move strings attached to its body parts.
The controls can be quite complex and practice and skill are required to bring the Marionette to life.
This type of puppet can be very delicate or complicated in detail and is appealing to a more sophisticated audience.
Although the Marionette should be as light as possible for the sake of the puppeteer, it’s necessary to weight some parts of the body, particularly the feet, because while it’s the string that lifts the legs. It’s gravity which lowers it.
Shadow Puppets
Shadow puppets involve backlighting and a screen of fabric or paper.
The puppets are usually two dimensional and operated in silhouette from behind with rods.
Colored Cellophane used in the design of the shadow puppets can introduce color into the puppets for a pleasing effect.
This type of puppetry can be very effective in presenting simple tails, magical illusions or abstract imagery.
Rod and Arm Puppets
The rod and arm puppet is usually operated overhead, although it can be used on a platform or table. This kind of puppet has rods attached to its moving parts like arms and legs.
The puppeteer’s hand is inside the head to make my mouth move. It takes both hands to operate this puppet and sometimes a second or even third puppeteer is needed to help out if you want everything to move at the same time, this puppet lends itself to large scale puppet characters.
Sock Puppets
Sock Puppets are made out of socks decorated to look like animals or people. They are usually made from an actual sock.
A sock puppet will have a mouthplate inserted into the stock to make the mouth action. Eyes, hair and other accessories and decorations are added to create interesting and colorful characters.
Sock puppets are easy to make and an excellent craft for children. Couple the puppet building with some puppet performance and you have a fun afternoon for the kids.
Glove Puppets
Glove Puppets, like the Bee Puppet above, incorporate all four fingers into operating the puppet. These can become very animated and very entertaining.
Small children like them because they are so easy to operate. Yet, professional ventriloquist Taylor Mason uses a small pig glove puppet in his act.
Finger Puppets
Finger puppets are often purchased as toys, but they can be great for storytelling. n imaginative storyteller can have several characters on his or her fingers to illustrate a story.
Stick Puppets
Stick puppets are just pictures glued to a stick. These are the easiest puppets for children to make.
You will be surprised how much fun it is for children to draw pictures for their puppets or cut interesting photos out of magazines.
Make a small stage from a shoe box and the kids will have fun all afternoon.
Ventriloquist Hard Puppets
Ventriloquists have traditionally used carved wooden puppets in their acts. Today, soft puppets are becoming more and more popular with ventriloquists.
Hardwood (and even paper-mache) ventriloquist figures have a rod coming down from the head and into the body of the figure. The puppeteer places his hand through a hole in the back of the figure and operates the controls.
The controls open and close the mouth. Other features which have been incorporated into various ventriloquist figures include moving eyes, blinking eyes, moving eyebrows, wiggling noses and even water squirters to make the puppet spit. Ewwww!
The popularity of the Muppets has made soft ventriloquists puppets more popular, as many different characters can be created than can be carved out of wood.
Your Hand As A Puppet
Your hand can become a puppet. Just opening and closing your hand creates a puppet movement. You can make your hand talk.
Wenceslao Moreno, better known as Señor Wences, made a puppet out of his hand for his ventriloquist act. He put eyes and clothing on his hand and used it as a puppet.
Anything Can Be A Puppet
Spoons, toilet brushes, stuffed animals, and anything else can be a puppet.
An object becomes a puppet when you impart life and personality to it. Parents sometimes make a toy animated to entertain and quiet an unhappy baby.
A blanket folded to resemble a baby in a blanket can become a puppet when held over your shoulder. Movement and baby noises can create the illusion you are actually carrying a baby.
Want to make people scream? Once you’ve convinced them you have a baby, drop or throw the blanket.
Those are just a few of the puppets that are used. There’s many, many more. Building puppets is only limited by your imagination.
What are puppets made out of?
Puppets can be made out of cloth, latex, foam and even spoons. Almost anything can be turned into a puppet if you have imagination.
A latex head puppet has a very flexible face. When the mouth moves and the puppet speaks in sync with the puppeteer’s voice, the audience finds it very easy to believe that it’s a person and not a puppet.
A puppet character whose head is made out of latex rubber is a very good type of puppet for both theater and television.
A foam head puppet, like the Muppets, has a foam rubber head, foam rubber body, a hinged mouth so that the most can open and close. It’s usually covered with a fabric, such as Antron Fleece.
It can be either be a hand puppet or a hand and rod puppet. It can also become an animal character or a human character.
It has a movable mouth and the face is flexible. The body is made out of foam rubber and the arms are on rods. It’s a hand and rod puppet.
The real secret to puppetry though is not what the puppet is made of or how it is constructed, but the performer’s ability to bring it to life.
Be sure to check out these articles on puppet manipulation.
Puppet Training – Learn the 5 Basic Skills for Great Puppetry HERE
How To Create Life With Your Puppets: Puppet Manipulation HERE
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