Shanna's Puppet Fun

For this lesson in our story-telling themed art class, we looked at

characters made by Jim Henson. We started by looking at a familiar character,

Kermit the frog. We talked about the similarities and differences between Kermit

and a frog that they might see near water or in the woods. We then looked at

other popular characters like Sponge Bob, and discussed what made them

characters and how they are used in telling a story. From there we went on to

look at other Jim Henson characters such as Hoggle and Mahna Mahna. The

students really surprised me with all of the facts they knew about these

characters in particular. We then created our own Jim Henson-inspired

characters out of cardboard tubes and various collage materials. Students were

encouraged to use the materials in a variety of ways and also encouraged to

emphasize specific aspects of their characters. Para educators further connected

the project to the lesson by asking prompting questions about their characters as

they were creating them. At the end of class, each student was given the

opportunity to discuss their characters and point out individual aspects. We then

viewed the Mahna Mahna video and it was a big hit! The video was not only

quirky and entertaining but also gave another example of the way artists use

characters to tell a story.

(Click on image to watch video)