Workshops

Why Integrate the Arts?

From the days of Exploration to the French Revolution to the Civil Rights Era, I have always loved history.  The physical presence, personality, movement, and voice of puppets lend themselves to the depiction and representation of famous people from history.  Allowing renowned figures to live again and interact with students will provide a catalyst for exploration into their lives and times.  Through puppetry, students become visually kinesthetically, and linguistically engaged in learning.

I developed my workshop, “Bringing Biographies to Life Through Puppetry”, for classroom teachers of grades K-5 as a way to integrate the art of puppetry and American history.  George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. emerge from a time capsule, describe artifacts and events of their time, engage in interviews, and participate in a lively question and answer session with students.

Elementary school teachers are so pressed for time that I developed a hand puppet with interchangeable faces.  All of the faces of my puppets are accurate representations, from either paintings or photographs.  The ability to switch characters with ease enables the teacher to explore any character in depth, such as scientists, authors, explorers, musicians, et c.

Children have enthusiastically accepted these characters from history.  By addressing the various types of learners, these puppets make a personal connection with the students by bridging the past to the present.

Professional Development Workshops

Puppets with a Purpose (Grades K-5)

Infuse your classroom with colorful puppet characters!  A variety of easy-to-make, simple puppets come to life with voice and movement in this workshop.  Every puppet is designed to help with specific curriculum topics, life skills (behavior management, hygiene, safety, etc.), or academic awareness (letter recognition, colors, numbers, etc.).  Participants will make a set of puppets to take back to the classroom.

Bringing Biographies to Life Through Puppetry (Grades K-5)

This workshop was developed in association with The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and is listed in their brochure of touring programs.

Take your students back in time to meet three American patriots—through the use of puppetry.  In this workshop, participants receive a hand puppet and 3 computer generated faces of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Teachers will learn puppet performance techniques as well as 3 unique activities that will bring your puppets to life in the classroom.

*You can substitute Washington, Lincoln, and King with any 3 characters of your choice.

Let Your Voices be Heard:  Using Puppets to Bring Stories to Life (Grades Pre-K-5)

"Once upon a time…" Every child loves the beginning of a new story. Using puppets to tell a story creates an enhanced sensory experience in which the story actually comes to life before a child’s eyes. The character’s voices, movement and engaging visual presence will capture the attention of even the most demanding child. We all have many voices within ourselves. Let your voices be heard as you use puppetry to bring books to life! This workshop will help you develop skills needed to become a puppeteer and storyteller and capture a child’s imagination in the creative world of enchantment. Emphasis on vocal expression will be an asset in the classroom, whether used in conjunction with puppets or simply when reading aloud. Includes handout.

Goal: To assist participants discover and develop their voices to promote emergent literacy and listening skills through the effective use of puppetry in the classroom.

Mother Goose... On The Loose!
Kathleen Lynam, Nashville Wolf Trap Artist

Mother Goose nursery rhymes come alive and serve as learning catalysts as they are explored through puppetry, song, movement, dramatic play, and props. Nursery rhymes provide easy and developmentally appropriate connections to curriculum strands and outcomes, emergent literacy skills, such as recall and sequencing, rhyming, phonemic awareness, making predictions, as well as extending other developmental domains such as cognitive, social/emotional, and motor skills. Includes handout.

Goal: To enhance the development of children’s imagination and representational thought and to explore simple puppet making skills and techniques that can be easily used in the classroom.

*For booking contact:  The Wolf Trap Foundation, Vienna, VA. 

Recent Workshops:

Feb. 28, 2009:  Wolf Trap Center for Education Vienna, Va.
Mother Goose on the Loose

Dec. 9, 2008:  International reading Association, Nashville, TN
Puppets with a Purpose

Sept. 23, 2008: Tn Alliance for Arts Education, Chattanooga, TN
Bringing Biographies to Life Through Puppetry