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Patsy answers your questions.
Q. Where does the "food" go when the puppet swallows it?
A. It goes into the palm of your hand.
Q. Do I have to be a ventriloquist to be an effective puppeteer?
A. This is one of the most common questions I get. The answer is a resounding no! Even if the children see your mouth moving and recognize your voice, they are transfixed by the puppet and will forget you are there.
Q. How long does it take to make a puppet?
A. To design a new puppet often takes weeks. However, after I do the initial design, I don't make one puppet at a time. I usually make 40 to 60 at a time.
Q. How are the eyes attached to the puppet?
A. Their eyes are attached with metal washers. Then we hot-glue the shank and back of each eye and place a piece of cloth over the back of the eye. This limits the possibility that the eye will come out and also protects the knuckles when the puppet is being used.
Q. What are articulators?
A. Articulators are the tongue, teeth and lips. About three years ago a group of speech-language pathologists came to a craft show where we were selling and demonstrating the swallowing function. They asked us to add an articulable tongue to the puppet. They asked if we would add top teeth (to some of the puppets that didn't have top teeth) and bottom teeth. Then they asked us to add lips to Wyatt the dog.
Q. Who came up with the idea for Douglas Rescue the signing dog?
A. I thought that very young children might better respond to a puppet when they were learning sign language. I was told by sign-language teachers that they wanted the "paws" designed for plenty of lateral motion. This is the reason for the long paws. From this idea I added to one model of Douglas Rescue all the articulators (tongue, teeth and lips) so that the clinician would have a "complete" puppet.
Q. What are sensory integration cookies?
A. Sensory Integration Cookies for Puppets that SwallowTM are pretend cookies made out of varying textures designed to stimulate tactile awareness when children explore them. For children who have sensory defensiveness, the cookies are a nice way to allow them opportunities to explore at their own pace and will.
Q. Where do the ideas for different puppets come from.
A. You the customer.
Q. Can puppets enhance reading skills?
A. Oh yes. If you link a puppet with a book you greatly enhance the reading experience.
A. They will eat cloth "bugs" or "cookies", Legos®, plastic letters and numbers. However, I wouldn't try mashed potatoes or fried chicken!
About Playful Puppets' Maker
Patsy has been making Playful Puppets since 1972. Here she is feeding Sara the mouse.