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CONCEPTS

All people have worth and value.
People need to understand their own worth.
People have creative potential which can be developed.
Good self-concept can be developed through positive experiences.
People want others to understand.

PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES

Students will develop individual self-concept through a collective positive activity.

 
MATERIALS

Materials for making hand or stick puppets, such as fabric, construction paper, dowels, yarn, etc.; video equipment (optional); materials for making puppet stage, such as cardboard box, construction paper, wallpaper, paints, etc.

 
TIME

Teacher discretion.

 
INSTRUCTIONS

This activity offers a broad rage of alternatives and creativity, which the teacher can adapt to the students' ability level and educational needs.

The puppets can be made in a variety of ways, from the very simple, to the complex. One teacher we know took close-up Polaroid shots of students' faces, and cut those out to use as the face of the self-puppet. Students then cut clothes out of fabric similar in color or texture to an outfit they especially liked, and put the puppet face and clothes on a dowel.

Even kindergarten students were able to write a story plot, as a small group, for their self-puppets, design and make a stage or set, and act out the story with the puppets. One teacher recorded the students' speaking parts on a cassette tape to play as the students put on the puppet story for parents at "Back-to-School" night. A video-tape could be a parent or media use, such as educational T.V.

LESSON CAPSULE

Ask the students to work in a small group to make up a story about themselves. Encourage them to focus on positive qualities of the participants. Then have them make hand or stick puppets representing the characters and act out the story.

As an alternative, give students a topic for the puppet stories such as "safety" or "friends". Or, use for social studies events being studied, or for holiday themes.

 

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