Puppets! If you haven’t noticed yet, I am a big fan of puppets. I love everything they do for children. When I use “people look alike” puppets in my classroom my students get so excited because to them, that is like one of their friends coming to play. They understand the puppets, they respect the puppets and they actively listen to the puppets. If I sat in front of my students and taught the same lesson that my puppet did, I would not get the same engagement or recall. For kids the puppet is just like them, experiencing all the feelings that they are feeling being “new”little humans.
So….I wanted to incorporate puppets into the lives of my own children. With that said, we created a 5 Little Ducks hand puppet. In doing so, I used a kid’s winter glove (we have a million from living in Minnesota) but if you don’t have one you can always use a sock. I then pre-cut 5 ducks and colored them. I used velcro to attach them to the glove but you could always use tape. Tip**you only need one side of the velcro when putting them on the glove because the glove acts as a felt board!
As you sing/watch the song and count down the ducks..have your child remove one and put it on the back of the glove each time one swims away. If you aren’t familiar with the song, just google Five Little Ducks Video. This then becomes a visual, auditory and a tactile experience–meeting the needs of all learners.
