Puppet Stage

Before life as a housewife and stay-at-home-mommy, I was a first grade teacher. During the summer before my last year of teaching, I spent a lot of time brainstorming ways to help bring the stories in our anthologies alive for the kids. One idea I had was to set up a puppet stage for them to act out the stories of their choice during literacy centers. The problem was that puppet stages were expensive. I was so excited when my husband volunteered to build me a stage!

Being the engineer that he is, he exceeded my greatest expectations! He build a solid, sturdy, wood stage that would fold up for storage! I used some leftover paint to dress it up a little, added some lettering, and put up a curtain. Voila! A puppet stage! My students had a lot of fun at this center all year long.

A couple weeks ago we set it up for our Baby Bear to enjoy. Right now, he has the most fun pulling the puppets off our hands or playing peek-a-book with us while we try to put on a show. Sometimes, I catch him trying to use the puppets like puppets, though. It makes my heart smile to see his imagination growing.