Puppets Guide: Makes and Museums

We've got a fab 'make and do' to keep you busy over the summer, plus all you ever wanted to know about puppets...

Glove puppets have been recorded all the way back to medieval times when they were used by travelling minstrels and entertainers to perform folktales and stories from the Bible.

They are controlled by the puppeteer's hand inside the puppet, with the middle fingers inside the head and the thumb and little finger inside the arms.

The heads and hands were traditionally carved out of wood or made from papier-mâché with a cloth body.

Punch and Judy are well known glove or hand puppets. They have performed in public for centuries.

Here's a Punch and Judy show on the beach in Swanage, Dorset.

We asked Bea, a top puppeteer, to show you how to make your very own glove puppet.

Follow Bea's instructions and you too could take this rather boring-looking bunch of craft materials...

...and bring them to life!

So, if you're feeling creative, and you've got time on your hands (sorry, couldn't resist a pun!), here's how to make a glove puppet.

That's not all - if you want to find out more about puppets, read on....

(Some of these links are to film clips so might take a while to load. Worth it though.)

If you visit the ICONS website you can meet John the Punch and Judy man and find out more about all the characters in the Punch and Judy story. Then you can sit back and watch a show!

On the PeoplePlay website, you can travel along a 'history of puppets' timeline.

There are museums and galleries all over the UK where you can see puppets old and new.

At the Horniman Museum in London, they have puppets from different cultures and traditions all over the world.

If you go to their website you can find out how to make a Kathputli String Puppet from India, a Fish Shadow Puppet, and Hand Shadow Puppets of different animals.

© Horniman Museum

You can see lots of puppets at the V&A Museum of Childhood in London, and read more about puppets on their website.

At Discover in London you can make puppets and hold your own show.

Brighton Toy and Model Museum in East Sussex has a fab collection of puppets and toy theatres.

Norwich Puppet Theatre in Norfolk has loads of puppet shows and workshops to entertain you this summer. You can make anything from a robot puppet to an origami frog, a marionette to an animated film and a theatre with puppets to a pop-up toy!

Remember, if you visit a museum and see some puppets, Show Me would love to hear about it - and if you make your own puppet, send us a photo!