Pop-up puppet
Laughing together
Having fun and playing games with your child shows them that you enjoy spending time with them, and can encourage imagination and creativity.
Related messages:
Belonging, Playing, Singing, Talking
Development stage:
Babies, Toddlers, Preschoolers
Play type:
Dramatic or imaginative, Language and literacy, Drawing and writing, Building and construction, Indoor, Fine motor, Numeracy, Wellbeing
Disposition:
Communication, Purposeful & persistent
AEDC domain:
Social competence, Language & cognitive skills
EYLF outcomes:
Confident and involved learners, Effective communicators
Activity
Make a simple pop-up puppet using a paper cup, straw, felt tip pens and cardboard to delight children of all ages.
What you'll need
- Paper cup
- Plastic drinking straw
- Card
- Scissors
- Pencils
- Felt tip pen
- Tape
- Paint and paintbrushes
Words to use
- Pop
- Up/down
- Surprise
- Peekaboo
- Hello/goodbye
- Gone away
- Back again
Questions to discuss
- Where’s he gone?
Instructions
- Draw a small character onto the card, using the felt tip pen.
- Cut out the character.
- Tape the character to the end of the drinking straw.
- Using scissors, make a hole in the base of the cup big enough for the straw to fit through.
- Decorate the outside of the paper cup.
- Push the long end of the straw through the hole in the base of the cup so that the character is hiding in the cup and the long end of the straw is poking out of the bottom of the cup.
- To surprise people with your puppet character, push the straw up and the character will pop out of the cup.
Learning through play
Ways to develop numeracy through play
- Talk about positions – up/down, back/front.
- Count before popping up the puppet eg 1,2,3... Boo!
- Use puppets to sing counting songs such as Five Cheeky Monkeys, putting one puppet down at a time.
Ways to develop literacy through play
- Use lots of describing language when making the puppets eg tall, short.
- Older children can choose what character or animal they want to draw.
- Sing songs or tell stories using the puppets.
Extensions and variations to this activity
- Play Peekaboo.
- Make different animals and sing Old MacDonald.
- Make puppets to go with songs such as Five Little Ducks.
- Make a puppet theatre.
- Make happy/sad puppets with different emotions on each side.
- Sing or chant Somebody’s Hiding:
Somebody’s hiding, hiding, hiding
Somebody’s hiding
Who can it be? [repeat x 3 times]
It’s [child’s name]!
Supporting parent engagement in play
Parents or carers can:
- Comment on what their children are doing (say what they see).
- Talk in their home language.
- Use literacy and numeracy words (see words to use section above).
You can help families by:
- Modelling what you want them to do.
- Talking to them about the focus of the activity and what children might be learning.
- Writing up words that go with the activity.
- Making suggestions on what families can do at home.
Related Great Start activities
Great Start activities are for parents and carers to do with their children.
