Storytime at home
On the sofa before bed, a hand puppet with a movable mouth earns its keep: it can read along, object to the ending or yawn at lights-out. Most Living Puppets characters work like this, among them monsters, a grandma and a grandpa, and Sesame Street's Elmo and Grover. Some have a tongue you can move as well, which rarely fails to get a giggle.
For the very youngest, The Puppet Company, Haba and Sterntaler make cuddly baby hand puppets. Before long, the toddler watching from your lap will want a go. A hand puppet of a child's favourite animal also makes a good birthday or Christmas present. The Puppet Company's baby range even includes Santa Claus and a snowman.
Nursery and primary classroom
An animal hand puppet whose head and front legs move can nod, wave a paw or point at a picture. That comes in handy when the class practises counting after lunch or works on sounds in phonics. Most Puppet Buddies move their head and front legs in just this way, and many Beleduc animals can move their head and all their legs. Both ranges sit at the lower end of our price scale, which helps when you are buying for a whole class. Several hand puppets from one series, such as the Puppet Buddies, also look as though they belong together.
For a minibeasts topic, the glove-shaped spiders and insects from Beleduc and Folkmanis fit right in: a bee, a ladybird, a caterpillar or the Folkmanis Blue Tarantula, for instance. For science lessons, the Folkmanis Monarch Life Cycle and Frog Life Cycle zip from caterpillar to butterfly and from egg to frog. A class topic on Australia can draw on Hansa Creation's Koala, Wombat, Quokka, Bilby and Platypus, and Beleduc's kangaroo Kanga arrives with little Juju, a finger puppet, in her pouch.
A show in the school hall
Once the drama club has a puppet booth, stage puppets come into their own. The Folkmanis Stage Puppets are made for this, as are all the Hansa Creation hand puppets in our range. The Puppet Company adds long-sleeved glove puppets whose extended bodies cover the forearm. Your hand goes in from underneath, as you would with a Punch and Judy puppet, which lets each character pop up over the front of the booth. Without a booth, you play them just as you would any other hand puppet.
Aesop's fable of the fox and the crow makes an easy first show: the fox flatters the crow into singing, and the cheese slips from its beak. The Hansa Creation Fox is one of the few Hansa hand puppets with a mouth that opens, so it can do the flattering. The Puppet Company's Large Crow has a movable beak to let the cheese drop, plus a built-in squeaker for its caw. The crow is not built as a stage puppet; it simply perches on the front edge of the booth.
Therapy sessions and care homes
Speech and language therapists and occupational therapists bring hand puppets into exercises and short dialogues. For a hand puppet that can hold up its end of a conversation, look at Folkmanis. Most of its animals have a movable mouth or beak, and on many the front legs or wings move as well.
In care homes and dementia care, activity coordinators work with lifelike animal hand puppets, perhaps a cat, dog or rabbit by Hansa Creation or Folkmanis. Many Hansa hand puppets have fur that looks true to life. Both brands belong to the higher price bracket.
When character matters more than realism
Living Puppets suits anyone who wants a personality rather than a species. Dressing up is part of the fun: on a good number of its human characters the clothes come off and can be changed, and many let you move their hands. The Puppet Company's sock monsters, meanwhile, have a squeaker in the tongue that gets a laugh at the right moment.
Ordering for a nursery, school or care home
Invoice payment becomes available once your customer account has been approved after a credit check. Not sure which hand puppet suits your group? Send us a message.