Hungry Thing Puppet Show
This omnivorous puppet
provides the focus for a language game.
Objectives
Children ages 4-5 can remember a sequence of shown objects Lang. IIB
Other children are able to guess an object from given descriptions, ask
questions about objects using descriptors like color, size, shape, and where it
is found, and they all can attend the puppet show.
Materials
Large bulky puppet
with big mouth (can be made from large paper bag); simple household or school
objects, e.g. pencil, bowl, hat, shoe, paper. One teacher works the
"Hungry Thing" puppet while another teacher plays "straightman,”
helping the Hungry Thing get the objects out of its mouth.
Procedures
1. The Hungry Thing comes out of the puppet theater and burps.
It says it feels sick. The teacher suggests that maybe it has eaten something
that has made it sick.
2. Have the children guess what the Thing has eaten by asking questions like,
"What color is it? How big is it? Where is it found?" The Hungry
Thing will give them clues and answer "yes" or "no" when
the children guess.
3. Each time the children guess correctly, the puppet will bring up the object
(about 5 or 6 objects altogether). Have children repeat name. Ask the kids to
tell and show how the object is used. Ask them to tell you as many things as
they can about each object. After this is done, the teacher should put the
objects on a shelf out of sight.
4. When the puppet has brought up all of the objects, it thanks the children
for making it feel better and leaves to go have dinner!
5. See if the children can remember, in order, the objects which the Hungry
Thing produced.
Variation:
1. Teacher brings
objects and places them on puppet theater.
The Hungry Thing slowly, one by one, eats them up. The children try to
remember the order, and the Hungry Thing produces the objects in the order
eaten.
Note: The Hungry Thing,
by Jan and Ann Seidler (Scholastic Books, New York, 1967) is a story that this
puppet show extends.
|