Whatever it is that makes puppets so special, it is that trait or multiple traits that make them so essential to so many children shows. If think about the shows from your childhood the ones that tend to stick out the most that had some crazy feature that made it stand out from everyday life. Whether it was animation, or people dressed up in wild outfits, or puppets they all had something that held your curiosity and kept you watching. Its probably not a surprise then that some of the most beloved and effective educational or entertaining children shows involved puppets. The three that stand out the most in my mind are Sesame Street, Mister Rogers, and Lamb Chop’s Play-Along. Each of these shows used puppets not only to entertain children, but also to educate them and did so in very different ways.
Sesame Street’s main goal is to help children learn and grow by focusing on helping them learn their ABC’s and numbers. Each show usually tries to focus on one number and one letter that they teach through different short segments. The puppets, or muppets as they are sometimes called, are used to help teach these lessons by learning them with the audience. For example, Grover often has segments with a child or two where he’ll ask them about how they feel when they get made, he asks them questions and they respond and he learns. The humans on the show usually act as the teachers and parent figures for the puppets helping them learn.
Mister Rogers main goal is to help children by appealing to their feelings, whether it be anger, fear, or happiness he talked and sang about and made the kids feel better. One thing that I found interesting about Mister Rogers is that he believed strongly in children’s understanding of the difference between reality and imagination. That’s why he never himself went to the Neighborhood of Make-Believe. However, Mister Rogers understood how important the imagination is to learning and how much children can learn from the characters in the Neighborhood of Make-Believe. Like Sesame Street, the Mister Rogers’ puppets took on the roles of children, even if they were a king and considered “grown-up.” They still represented one characteristic of childhood. Daniel the Striped Tiger was a child’s shyness, Lady Elaine was a child’s devious and maybe sometimes selfish side. Each puppet’s purpose was to help the audience learn from their problems and actions. The humans helped them along like parents.
Lamb Chop was just a fun show. I’m not really sure if it’s main purpose was necessarily educational, but through the character of the puppet Lamb Chop and her caretaker Sherri Lewis, children could learn how to behave properly and how to overcome fears or other problems. It was a fun show and Lamb Chop represented the perfectly rebellious and sometimes smart-mouthed child. She was so fun to watch!!
What is most interesting about these three shows is that while they all worked to educated and help children grow, each did it in a slightly different way still succeeded. Each also succeeded with different types of puppets. Sesame Street used very elaborate puppets of all different shapes and sizes with puppeteers operating in different ways. Lamb Chop for the most part was a sock puppet only I think she was made out of some kind of yarn or sweater material. Mister Rogers was the simplest form of material that came down over the hand with a plastic head on the top. The eyes didn’t move and the mouth didn’t open, but they allowed children to use their imagination and that was what was most important to Mister Rogers.
So what makes puppets so special? I think it’s their ability to capture our hearts and minds, even if its just for an hour of the day, and make our imagination take flight and learn something new.
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