Stick Puppets

To Make Stick Puppets: Using LessonPix.com, you can select the pictures that you would like to make puppets. After using the "Create Materials" wizard, print your stick puppets. This works well on heavier paper such as cardstock or laminate the pictures. Attach the pictures to popsicle sticks or dull skewers. Have fun using the stick puppets to retell or create new stories.

Using Stick Puppets to Teach

Stick Puppets can be used to teach a variety of literacy skills. And, they make a great addition to enhance any literacy experience. Here are a few ways you can use stick puppets to teach literacy skills:

Character Development: One important component of literacy is understanding characters in a story and how they act, learn, and change. As students role play with puppets, they develop a deeper understanding of the character. This helps enrich the literacy experience and relate to stories.
Recalling details: After a story is read aloud, the student can use puppets to share their favorite parts of the story. The teacher or parent can help assess comprehension or collect data regarding details from the story.
Sequencing: Students may use puppets to show ability to sequence the details from the story.
Retelling: Students may use puppets to retell stories. By acting out the story and retelling in sequnce, the students demonstrate an understanding of the story, relate to the experience, and share the experience.
Articualtion: Use puppets as cues when working on target sounds or combination of sounds.
Vocabulary: Puppets can be used to allow children to practice vocabulary from a story. The character themselves may be a target vocabulary word such as animals from Brown Bear Brown Bear by Bill Martin or The Mitten by Jan Brett. Or, students may use character puppets imitating and using the new vocabulary in role play and retelling situations.
Storytelling: Students can select or be given characters to use in telling their own stories. These props can faciliatate their creative writing process. If the child is too young to write down his or her story, the child may dictate the story to an adult. Then the child's own story can be read and shared, thus showing their gifts as an author or storyteller.
Change the Ending: As you read a story aloud, give the stick puppets to a studentt to act out. Before reaching the resolution of the story, stop the book and have the studnets create their own ending to the story. Once different ending are collected, finish the story and compare how the author chose to end the story to how the students ended the story.

Tip: Cut a pool noodle in half and make slits to hold your stick puppets- such fun!

Here are some stick puppet ideas from the Sharing Center:

Emoji's on a stick

Color your own pet puppets

Story Characters from "Turkey Trouble" by Wendi Silvano

Superheroes!

Free Sample of 3 Little Pigs Stick Puppets