Puppetry in Education and Therapy

In 1989, the Puppeteers of America held its National Puppet Festival in Cambridge, Massachusetts. One of the unique features of this festival was an education overlay called “Puppets: Education Magic” that ran concurrent with the Festival. It was exclusively for local educators and therapists from many different settings: teachers from preschool through grade 12, religious educators, after-school educators, special educators, hospital personnel, etc. Thus began a unique conference for educators and therapists that continued to be offered each summer in the New England area.

The concept of Puppets: Education Magic, workshops targeted for educators and therapists, was then added to many Puppeteers of America Regional Festivals in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast Regions, with graduate credits offered for participants. Along with this opportunity for puppeteers, educators, and therapists to join together to offer workshops, performances, exhibits, discussions, and sharing of ideas and expertise, came Education and Therapy Symposiums at Regional and National Festivals.

Puppeteers in other parts of the country and Canada also offered regional conferences for educators and therapists with workshops that taught skills in puppetry and how to apply these skills in educational and therapeutic settings. These sessions brought together puppeteers, educators, and therapists to talk about the unique aspects of working with puppets in educational and therapeutic settings of all kinds. People from across the country and Canada began to articulate what they meant by “puppetry in education” and “puppet therapy” and how it is the same or different from “puppet theater.” As new books were published, the authors came to Puppets: Education Magic and offered book signings and their books were reviewed and discussed.

Simultaneous to the Puppets: Education Magic events, several therapists who use puppetry in therapy, and puppeteers who do therapeutic puppetry, began to dialogue about the theory and practice of therapeutic puppetry. Various workshops were presented at puppetry festivals and arts therapies conferences. Several practitioners of therapeutic puppetry independently began teaching workshops and making presentations promoting therapeutic puppetry. 

Articles about therapeutic puppetry have been published since the1930s, but interest in the topic increased with the publication of several books in the 1980s and 1990s. Clearly, many divergent concepts and approaches to therapeutic puppetry were being explored.

             It became apparent to us and others that there is a need for more study, research, and reflective writing about the power of puppets in education and therapy from the point of view of the puppeteers, therapists, and educators who use puppets in their work. There is a need for thoughtful discussion about the unique characteristics of puppetry in education and therapy, the skills it takes to