I made good on my promise to make up puppet shapes while the ducklings were at Grandma’s house this Tuesday. On Wednesday when they came home I told them everything was ready and they immediately abandoned all thoughts of whining for printed-out coloring papers (something I’d like to get away from) and headed downstairs.
I had hunted through the craft boxes my sister made for us and found feathers, pom-poms, scraps of fabric, felt, ribbons, lace, bits of fake fur, googly eyes, buttons. Having it all waiting on the table was definitely better than hunting it out on the spot; having a table where we could spread things out and leave it during meals really made the whole thing possible. I’m still working on the balance of collaborating with them (rather than either directing or just leaving them alone.) I did keep charge of the glue (was not satisfied with how either glue I used worked) and encouraged them to wait and try out what they wanted with everything rather than gluing one thing on immediately and then discovering later they wanted something else in that spot.
D2 came up with the idea of making fuzzy eyebrows by trimming fuzz off the pom-poms. He imitated D1 a lot but also had some of his own ideas. I really love the way D1 did hair on her puppets; I helped her make the braid for the red-haired one.
We worked for about an hour on Wednesday and another hour on Thursday. After we had made the first two puppets on the first day, I realized D2 still had no idea what they were for. I put my hand inside and had it say a few words, and he instantly lit up and they began taking the puppets around, naming them and talking with them. D1 had hers nod and shake its head rather than talk for it for awhile.
Next up: tonight we hope to do a puppet show.
Introducing The World 