Puppetools: Advancing the Language of Play

We all realize that play is important in our children's learning but sometimes being creative is difficult. Truthfully, there are days that I struggle to get through our day, and if my kids want to do a little more creatively, I shy away from the extra effort. I am always looking for little ways that I can inject fun and creativity into our school day and make learning fun, enjoyable and something our kids look forward to each day.

Jeff Peyton, the owner of Puppetools is enthusiastic in his love for puppets in learning and helping others latch onto that same enthusiasm. He has created a website that puts together over 30 years of his research and development in play-based communication.

"A playful quality of mind will help your child self-start, be self-expressive, creative-minded, and self-confident. A child nurtured through play is more receptive to learning and more able to absorb the jolts and challenges of factory education."

The Puppetools site has templates that can be downloaded as well as puppet images, patterns and ideas for using puppets in your classroom/homeschool time. Their goal is to help learning come alive for kids and help make any image come to life for you and your kids.

There are two different membership options: a $20 trial membership that is good for 60 days and a $99 full year membership that can have up to 30 users (for a homeschool co-op or maybe a children's church program). A Puppetools membership includes the following:

* Time to train and master Puppetools - the "Language of Play"
* Puppetools' online Educator Work Area
* Puppetools' exclusive practitioner video library
* Extensive research on play and education
* Hundreds of puppet images, concepts, and patterns
* Community forums - learn with teachers around the world
* Fast, flexible puppet design and construction--in just minutes
* Single paper hinge - a great resource for puppets
* Know-how and techniques without acting, scripts, or theater
* Ideas to effectively harness play and spark motivation, participation, and receptivity
* Ways to discover the deep impact of play on students and teachers

If you struggle with creativity in your school time, this might be something for you. Personally, the $20 trial option would be the better choice if you were looking for yourself, because you should be able to manuever the site in a few days and get the information that you need, save yourself some money...and spending $99 for puppets (to me) is a little much.

You can browse the Puppetools site to find out more. You can also see other reviews on Puppetools at the Homeschool Crew blog.