Play is an important part of emotional development for children. One way to encourage children to express their emotions in a creative and positive way is through the use of puppets. Children can explore powerful emotions and learn effective self-regulation skills through the characters they create.
Puppets are ideal to use, but small figurines, cuddly toys, spoon characters, worry monsters, and muddle monsters are also perfect for young children to use.
For those children who struggle to talk about their emotions and feelings, puppets are a great tool to help them express themselves. Some of the children we work with allow the puppet to tell us when something has gone wrong. They might not be able to say what they did to upset a friend, or what happened when someone got hurt or an object was broken, but they can tell us through the puppet.
So many children do not like to revisit challenging situations, which makes it difficult to have an effective restorative conversation, but using the puppets helps the child listen and engage without reigniting all those emotions. By doing this, children learn that we all make mistakes and that there are ways to deal with situations that make others feel better. It helps them to learn there are different ways to react to the emotions we feel. It also gives you the chance to celebrate when things have gone well.
Have fun!
Many children that we are working with in schools are struggling with their social interactions and using puppets with a group of children is a safe way to develop these skills. It is interesting to step back and watch children’s interactions through the puppets. Watch and learn – you will see the children who need to develop skills to share, take turns, relinquish some control, resolve conflicts in a peaceful way and so much more. You can then develop these skills through targeted work.
Reach Behaviour 