Tips for Preparation
To maximise students’ performance in the competition, they should be equipped with the essential puppetry skills of P.O.W.E.R.S. Furthermore, teachers should strategically utilise training sessions to assist students in cultivating the required performing abilities. Here are some useful tips for the training activities.
Exercises on P.O.W.E.R.S.
P.O.W.E.R.S. are the fundamental puppetry techniques for a captivating puppet show. These techniques encompass Positioning, Opening and Closing the Mouth, Walking Around, Eye Contact, Real Emotion, and Sounding Right.
Below are practical exercises designed to help students master these essential skills:
Positioning
Achieving proper positioning takes practice. Puppets should align along the stage at approximately belly button height. Practise puppet entrances and exits to find the correct elevation. Initially, use a small strip of coloured tape on the puppet for students to align with the stage outline.
Opening and Closing the Mouth
Engage in activities like 'puppet counting' and singing nursery rhymes such as 'Baa Baa Black Sheep'. Teach that the puppet's mouth should open on vowels and close on consonants.
Walking Around
Encourage students to practise entering and exiting the stage with their chosen puppet using various styles: quick, slow, smooth, stuttered, bouncy, and shaky. Discuss how each movement can convey different emotions for the character:
Quick - excited/energetic
Slow - sad/angry
Smooth - calm/happy
Stuttered - scared
Bouncy - happy/child-like
Shaky – nervous
Eye Contact
Play the game 'Hey You' with puppets to emphasise the importance of precise eye contact. Ensure that the puppet is looking directly at the intended target for effective communication.
Real Emotions
Encourage students to treat their puppet as a real character, reacting authentically. Practise altering the puppet's gaze to evoke different emotions:
Happy puppets usually look up
Sad puppets typically look down
A contemplative puppet might look up and to the side, mirroring human behaviour.
Sounding Right
Introduce the engaging voice matching game titled ‘Puppet Voice Swap.’ In this activity, pair up students and have them select a puppet each. Assign each pair a scenario, such as a pirate meeting a robot. Students must engage in a conversation using their puppet voices, with a twist: every minute, they switch puppets and continue the dialogue in the new voice. Encourage creativity and adaptability as they strive to maintain consistent character voices throughout the game.
Rehearsal Activities
During the preparation phrase, it is a good idea to introduce activities which provide students with the opportunity to learn and practise skills in the following areas:
- Performing with confidence.
- Using their voice.
- Working in a team.
- Using their puppets.
Below are some suggested rehearsal activities that cater to these skill areas:
1. Circle Time
Circle time serves as a versatile activity which can be used to introduce a wide range of drama games. Students are arranged in a circle and engage in word games, role-play activities, and voice exercises.
2. Readers’ Theatre
Readers’ Theatre is a dramatic reading activity that enables students to read a story or script without the need for a full-fledged drama performance. Students sit together, read their parts, and convey the drama using their unique voices.
3. Puppet Readers’ Theatre
As teachers and students grow more comfortable with Readers’ Theatre, they can incorporate puppets into the reading sessions, allowing them to practise both reading and puppet handling skills simultaneously.
4. Story Fun Time Activities
Charades: Students mime a particular scene from the story, while the remaining students guess which scene it is.
Freeze Frame: 2 or 3 students pose like a photograph which represents a scene from the story, other students have to guess which part of the story their scene represents.
Rewrite: 2 or 3 students act out a change in a part of the story. Other students have to explain what happened in the rewrite.
Hot Seat: One student sits in the ‘Hot Seat’ and is interrogated by the other students. They must provide answers which are ‘in character’.
Mime Time: A student reads out the story (or a part of it) while the remaining students listen and act it out.
Music Mime: The teacher plays a dramatic (or otherwise) piece of music, and then assigns the students a task from a story, for example, “Pigs building a house.” Students must perform their actions in time to the music.
