How Children Can Learn from Hand Puppet Play
Children are unique in that everything they encounter becomes a learning experience. From going to the store with their parents, to being read a book, they absorb information around them at a very high rate. One of the biggest factors to have an effect on a child’s learning is pretend play and one of the best ways to accommodate their love for pretend play is through puppets.
Pretend play with hand puppets has been proven as an effective learning tool that enables parents, doctors, psychologists and others to engage with children and learn more about their thoughts, feelings and needs. Pretend play with puppets can be very enlightening for parents and a very effective learning tool for their children. Let’s take a look at some of the ways children can learn from hand puppet play:
Puppets Teach Communication And Social Skills
Hand Puppets are effective at helping children develop better speaking and listening skills. They can often communicate better with the puppets than they can with adults especially when it comes to their ideas and feelings. Even children who are shy or apprehensive will begin to open up during puppet play sessions which can lead to them being more open with parents, teachers and others.
Another way puppets can help children is that is enables them to try out new personalities using the puppet as a medium. This not only gives them a chance to express themselves through the hand puppet, but it can greatly improve their own personality as well.
Children who get uncomfortable around certain animals or in certain situations such as flying, can select a hand puppet of that animal or of a bird which can help them gain better control over those feelings, even eliminating the anxiety altogether.
Puppets Teach Creative Skills
Hand puppet play can help young children develop increased creative skills as they use their imagination with the puppets to create a story or scenario that can play out. Research shows that imaginative play, especially puppet play can help children understand the difference between fantasy and reality, something video games do not teach.
Contact Pup-Etts To Learn More
To learn more about how children can learn from puppets, visit Pup-Etts and see their incredible line of therapy and play puppets designed to help children, the elderly and the disabled overcome a wide range of social issues. Also be sure to visit the Pup-Etts GoFundMe page and make a donation to the Pup-Etts Ministries, created to bring puppet therapy to people who need it most.
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