I know what you may be thinking after reading this heading for my blog today. “Why should I add hand puppets to reading time?” “Hand puppets – where do I buy those?” “Help!! Can you give me some ideas?”

If there is one thing that I know well about children- it is that they love to laugh. Making reading fun and enjoyable is important for especially younger children to develop the love for reading.

I read on the internet about librarian Carol Burton in Lufkin, Texas who uses about 20 hand puppets to encourage the students at her school to come to the library to read. Each puppet has its own personality. She uses them to teach life lessons or to bring to life the characters in a book. For example, one puppet is named Rudy. He is not very polite, and in fact, is quite rude and has to learn good manners. She engages the students with the puppets and then recommends books for the students to read. Or, she may read a book using a puppet to expand on the main character. The children can’t wait to come to the library every day. Read more about her creativity at this link http://www.teachhub.com/using-puppets-teach.

At home, you can easily make a hand puppet out of a sock. Craft stores have a variety of items such as eyes, fur balls, etc. to stick on the sock. Enjoy this as a craft with your child. There are also hand puppets that you can purchase at stores or on the internet. Spend some time planning to include a puppet in your story time with your children and you’ll see them laugh and look forward to reading again and again.