Puppet Center

This year with my new reading program (Lucy Calkins Units of Study) we have been reading books for a week and focusing on various strategies with the book. Each week we do a readers' theater with the book so the students get to act out the book through puppets for the characters in the books. This reemphasizes the "Students talk like the characters" point in the reading program. A colleague of mine found a pin on Pinterest for a simple puppet center so I thought I would give it a try. 

You can view the blog the original idea came from here:

http://www.teachpreschool.org/2010/03/stick-puppet-stage/

Here is my step by step process: 

Step 1: 

Buy a trifold board,border, decorative tape, pockets, and spray paint (optional)

Step 2: (optional)

I did not want a white trifold background so I spray painted the board black. I just used the 97 cents spray paint from Walmart. You could easily dress up your board with any color. 

Step 3:

Measure a square for the cut out. As the blog stated, many young students enjoy getting to see the audience's reactions to the puppets instead of hiding behind a wall with just the puppets showing. Depending on how old your students are should influence the size of the hole you cut in the trifold. I have kindergarteners so I made the hole large enough for the students to see the audience on the other side. 

Step 4:

Hot glue the border to the outside of the trifold to add a little color/detail.

Step 5: (optional)

I covered the area I had cut with green duct tape to add more color and to protect the area while the students are playing. 

Step 6:

Add pockets for the puppets. Depending on the puppets will depend on the size you will need to hold them. Most of my students' puppets are on Popsicle sticks so I used small pockets I found at the dollar tree. I just hot glued then to the trifold board. I did however hot glue a large envelope on the back side for larger puppets. 

Once you glue your pockets and add an optional title to the top you will have a puppet center ready to be enjoyed by your students.