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 How to Use Puppets in Your Music Classroom Have lots of puppets and don’t know how to use them? Don’t have any puppets and want somewhere to start? You’re come to the right place! In this blog post I will discuss some of the ways that I use puppets, provide some product links as well as link some lessons where you can use puppets to engage your students. Snowy the Owl My first puppet is probably my favorite and I use this one all the time. Snowy the Owl was one of my first acquisitions and I have used it for many purposes. The first way is that I use Snowy is for classroom management. The turning head of this owl allows me to turn its head and tell my students that Snowy sees and hears everything. Snowy is thus my assistant in the class and is either traveling with me (if I am on a cart) or sitting in a prominent spot in the classroom where all children can see the puppet. For more tips on fun classroom activities (especially for first day of school) click here. The second way that I use Snowy is for vocal exploration! I love to have Snowy fly in the air as the students follow Snowy’s path with their voices. Another fun trick is to stand behind the piano and have Snowy fly up in the air and when it is flying down, have Snowy hit a key. Students burst into laughter every time and it makes the process of warming up so much more fun! I often turn to Snowy and scold the puppet for not following directions. In this way Snowy becomes more real and engages with the students. For some more activities for different types of voices please click here. Yet a third way is to use Snowy as part of a book lesson. There are many books written about owls but one of my favorite is Goodnight Owl by Pat Hutchins. I have used this book with my students and even wrote a lesson plan for this book. I sing the lullaby while Snowy is in my lap, and invite all of my students to sing along to Snowy to put the puppet to sleep. This helps to give the lesson more focus since students have someone to sing to, instead of simply singing because they were asked to.  Sally the Squirrel I love to use this puppet to do a movement activity with my students. I have named this squirrel Sally after a suggestion from the students, but you can have the students come up with a name. This works great as a transition activity for students or can be great to begin or end a lesson with. I love to use the song “Hop Old Squirrel” which can be found on the Musicplay Online website. I ask the students what the squirrel is doing (I am hoping they will say she’s eating) and then tell them that the squirrel also loves to hop. I then sing the song while hopping along with my students and holding the squirrel in my hands. I then ask what else the squirrel could do and usually get a variety of answers. I try to do as many of them with the puppet to show the children that the squirrel can do a lot of these motions. This is a great way to give students a movement break while engaging them in the activity!  Alligator Al I love to use this puppet as a way to show my students how to keep a steady beat. The flapping of the mouth helps students see the alligator keep a beat. I have the alligator keep a steady beat while chanting the lyrics to the song Alligator Alarm. The first time that we chant, I have the alligator bite my arm at the end of the chant. After that, I ask the students what other body part the alligator should bite. I have the alligator bite only me for hygienic reasons. The students (particularly PreK) love this activity, and get to keep a steady beat while coming up with different body parts for the alligator to bite.  Elephant I use this puppet along with the book “Wakey, Wakey, Elephant!” by Linda Ravin Lodding. I keep the elephant in my lap and tell the students that the elephant is sleeping and we are going to try and wake him up. I don’t have a name for the elephant but you can ask the students to name this puppet. Using the chant I wrote for the book, the students chant out loud during specific points in the book. I check on the elephant puppet to see if it has woken up and then keep going until the elephant wakes up. This keeps the students motivated to wake up the elephant and they love it when the puppet finally wakes up and waves to them. Link to the lesson here.  Narwhal This puppet is fabulous to teach about conducting! I got this idea from David Row who is a fabulous music educator that presents weekly Facebook lives with great ideas. I have used this puppet along with the book “Wendell the Narwhal” by Emily Dove. I read the book to the students first and discuss what a conductor is. Then, using the puppet, we practice conducting without music first. Then I put on the piece “Morning” from the Peer Gynt Suite and we practice conducting to this music. Depending on the level of the students I also show them a Youtube video "What Does a Conductor Do?" about conducting, featuring a female conductor where they can get additional practice conducting with a real life conductor! Product Links: Snowy the Owl Squirrel Alligator Narwhal If you need help with curriculum or more songs in your classroom, please click on the links provided! Hope that these suggestions help you in your puppet journey! As always, feel free to email me with questions! Side note: As a new blogger, I am always trying to learn from others. If you or someone you know can benefit from learning from one of the masters in her field, head on over to http://kaysemorris.com/blogpost to learn how to blog like a boss! Polina
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