Puppets and creative play

November 7, 7:19 PMNorfolk Homeschooling ExaminerSherene Silverberg

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Folkmanis tea party
Little Blue School

While  the reasons we homeschool are many and varied, one big reason is that I want the children to have time to play.  Back in the days when I was still in the workforce, I ran a marketing and sales division of a large pharmaceutical company.  

This is when my passion to develop creativity and out-of-the-box thinking started.  I struggled for years to find the perfect marketers to hire.  I kept on finding brand managers who had a good understanding of the theoretical underpinnings of marketing but could never find one who had the ability to think creatively about the marketing process.

Then one day, a fine arts graduate talked her way into my office.  She demonstrated an incredible ability to think creatively.  I decided then and there to hire her because while I could teach the mechanics of marketing, the creativity of marketing was much more difficult to teach.

When my children were born, I decided that one of my major goals as a parent was to ensure that they had the ability to think creatively.

Enter the role of puppets.  As tiny children, puppets, and especially Folkmanis puppets, were a favorite.   Those gorgeous, soft, plush, cute and very realistic puppets became superheroes, tea party attendees, hospital patients, wildlife fleeing wildfires, astronauts and anything else my children's imaginations could come up with.

My kids played with them, slept with them and dragged them around everywhere.

I even used them to role play acceptable behavior.  I found that role playing behavior with the puppets turned the activity into fun and more importantly, the children paid attention to what I was saying.  They learned how to ask for toys, how to greet friends, how to thank people, etc., etc., etc., by interacting with their puppets.

Even though my kids are 8, I still use puppets to demonstrate desirable behavior. We've practiced telephone manners, adult/child and child/child behavior.   We've also used the puppets to work on impulse control.  Bet you'll never look at a puppet the same way after reading how we use them.  

As my children grew older, we included building toys like Lego and Kapla, dress up clothing, playsilks and cardboard boxes.  I'm forever driving around the neighborhood on trash pick up day looking for giant cardboard boxes.  I schlep them into the 3rd floor playroom where they become houses, dens, forts, puppet stages, vehicles and anything young imaginations can dream of.

Hopefully all this play will help my children develop the ability to think creatively as adults.