Pulling Strings - Level 3 Sample Unit
Activity 1 : Puppets around the world
The purpose of this activity is to:
- provide students with an outline of the whole unit
- identify a range of puppets and
- develop student understanding of the role of puppets in various cultural
settings.
Teachers explain that each student will design and make a puppet and that
the puppets will be made according to a design brief. Following the design
and production process, the puppets will be used in individual or group performances.
Students respond to examples or pictures of puppets and talk about the idea
of portraying people and animals using puppets.
Students brainstorm what they
know about puppets. Teachers provide prompts to support group discussion,
for example:
- What kinds of puppets have you seen?
- What do they look like?
- What are they made from?
- How do they move?
- What are the puppets used for?
- Where do the puppets come from?
Groups consider additional information that may be needed to answer the questions
and where they might obtain the information.
They research puppets using the library and/or the Internet.
Group research is shared with the whole class and stored in the Design brief
folio.
The Unit resources section provides websites
about puppetry. Discussion and research can cover a range of cultural/historical
sources, for example, Indonesian wayang kulit shadow puppets and varieties
of European puppet forms.
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