Puppet Making 101

I recall hearing once that when asked about his success, Mister Rogers attributed much of his creativity to a few key events that happened in his childhood. His grandfather spent hours playing puppets with him as a child. They worked together to create puppets and puppet shows. I'm sure that this grandfather never imagined the impact that time spent with his grandson would have on his future, or on so many others around the world.

Mister Rogers died when Mary Alice was a baby. I remember hearing about all of the quality time that this beloved grandfather spent with him and resolved to have that kind of a relationship with my own kids someday. Some of Mister Rogers' well-known phrases that he used repeatedly on his television program were inspired by the encouragement that was given to him by this grandfather. The relationship between this child and his grandfather impressed upon me the importance of words, of play, and of taking the time to make a child feel special. This is something that I try really hard to do, but I cringe at times about the things that my kids might remember... As a parent, I can only hope that when they are adults, they will focus on the good and choose to forget the bad. Let me tell you...we do have some bad around here, I just don't document it on this blog. :) If they do happen to forget, I will not help them to remember by publishing it here.

On a side note:

One of my friends told me that it depresses her to read blogs because it makes her feel unhappy about all of the things that she isn't doing that other people seem to be doing, that other people's lives seem so together, that their lives seem to be without problems of any kind. I agree with her. Many blogs paint a rosy picture, but the truth is that everyone has problems, and that most people don't choose to share them with the whole world. So, just to clear up any doubts, we also have problems here at the Smith house. I just try to focus on the good times, the highlights and joys of being a wife and mother. If I were keeping a scrapbook, the pages wouldn't be filled with pictures of the sad times. That is exactly what my blog is for me, a scrapbook of sorts. Just thought I'd let my blog readers know, lest they mistakenly envision the Smith family as having a life of unending fun and laughter without any bumps in the road. Not so.

I'll move on to some of those fun things, which is the reason I got on the computer in the first place! Mary Alice has been begging me to make puppets with her for some time now. We made some together about a year ago. We used scrap material and odds and ends from around the house. I even got out my sewing machine. (gasp!) Needless to say, the puppets didn't turn out exactly as planned. Their feet were all turned the wrong way. They looked, well....just freaky. Mary Alice really loved them, but they just weren't functional. The mouths didn't move. They had no motion. Basically, to use them, you just bobbed them up and down. When you did this, their heads wiggled around in a weird way. It was a learning experience.

This time around, we were a little bit more prepared. We checked out way too many books from the library (thirty-three to be exact), both on puppets and puppet shows. We picked out a type of puppet that I actually thought we could make. I was careful to look out for design flaws that would result in a bobbing head, freaky turned-in feet puppet whose mouth wouldn't move. We also checked out some books on various puppet shows. Of course, Mary Alice's first idea was to perform The Wizard of Oz. That puppet show required way too many characters. I told her that we needed to start out very slow and not get in over our heads. She finally picked out a puppet show that had only three characters. It is a very amusing little tale. I can't wait to watch her perform it for her dad.

Mary Alice really enjoyed working on this little project with me. Her eyes lit up as she shared the details of her "plans" of how we should paint and construct the puppets, what clothes they would wear, ideas for making props, etc. At one point, while we were working together, she looked up at me and said, "Mom, you're such a beautiful young woman. I'm so glad that you're my mom." Too funny. She is always full of silly sentiments. I love it! I noticed how much fun she was having just being creative.

So tonight, amidst a pile of gluey newspaper, Mary Alice and Major and I worked on the puppets. They are drying overnight. I'll let you know how they turn out.