One of our goals as parents, guardians and teachers is to help develop our children socially and instill in them the confidence necessary for social interaction. For some children, social interaction can be an exhausting task. We, the parents and adults in the lives of shy children, do everything we can to improve our shy children’s self-esteem, self-confidence, and social skills. We often turn to team sports, camps, drama classes, and the like for that purpose, all for good reason. However, these types of efforts can be complemented by efforts closer to home. In fact, it’s within our own playrooms that the lessons in social interaction and self-confidence begin. Many types of games help to bring children out of their shell. One of these forms of play is puppets.
Puppet play allows children to engage in the art of storytelling and acting, which is as much a social skill as it is a creative skill. By telling a story through puppets, a child can increase their comfort level with using her voice and having attention focused on them. In other words, they increase your comfort level as a speaker, but you can do it behind the safety of your puppets or puppet theater. Also, since storytelling is a part of so much of our social interaction (whether it’s telling stories about our day or recounting something we read about, etc.), storytelling through puppets gives kids a great way to practice this social skill too.
One recommendation to get a child interested in the storytelling aspect of puppetry, as well as to give them initial confidence when dabbling in this style of play, is to get them a family story puppet set. You can often find puppet sets to retell any number of classic fairy tales or fables (like Little Red Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, etc.). Beginning by retelling a familiar story helps take pressure off your child about what to say or what will happen next, giving them a safe way to practice storytelling and gain confidence in speaking.
Once more comfortable, the child can use the same characters to tell new adventures and new stories using their own words and ideas. Generating original material is another social skill and sometimes a social stressor for children. Sometimes children fear social interaction because they simply don’t know what to say, or their own words don’t seem to get through to them. Puppets can give children the opportunity to practice telling their own stories, as well as a simple stream of consciousness speaking using words, thoughts, and feelings that are all their own. This in turn can make expressing your own thoughts or ideas in a social context a little less daunting.
Of course, puppet play doesn’t have to be solitary. Puppet play, by its very nature, is a social game involving a speaker and an audience, just like many other social interactions. Additionally, the puppet set allows for the inclusion of more than one puppeteer/speaker, making it a great choice for play dates. Perhaps with a little guidance from an adult, even a shy child on a play date will find himself talking to his playmate playing with puppets.
In many ways, a puppet in the hands of a child can be a passport to extroversion from introversion. Through puppets, children can practice different personalities, different voices, and different approaches to social interaction, as well as find their own unique voice. Through this safe form of social practice, children can feel more confident and better prepared to speak when asked. Remember, we too can support our little ones on this adventure by joining the play, and of course, nothing helps build trust like an enthusiastic and receptive audience.