When I studied for my degree in Arts Education at Bretton Hall in Wakefield, we spent a lot of time exploring why the arts matter in schools — not as a “nice extra”, but as a powerful tool to help children learn, understand, and make sense of the world.
Over the years, there has been an increasing focus on measurable outcomes and core subjects. While literacy, numeracy, science and technology are clearly vital, however, education is about more than just passing tests. Children aren’t empty vessels to be filled with information and they aren’t robots being trained for productivity. They are curious, emotional, imaginative human beings who learn best when they are engaged, motivated and able to see the point of what they are doing.
The Mansion Building at Bretton Hall
During the pandemic, science and technology helped keep us safe and connected, but it was also stories, music, creativity, and shared culture that helped many people cope with isolation and uncertainty. That was a powerful reminder that the arts aren’t a luxury — they’re part of what makes us human.
Creativity isn’t separate from “serious” learning. In fact, real science, engineering and problem-solving all rely on imagination: asking “what if?”, trying things out, experimenting, and thinking in new ways. When learning becomes only about ticking boxes and memorising answers for tests children can lose that sense of curiosity and purpose. Creative approaches help bring meaning, motivation, and deeper understanding back into the classroom.
One of the most effective ways to do this is through learning-by-doing. Imagine pupils being asked to design a playground: they have to measure space, manage a budget, make decisions, explain their ideas and work together. Suddenly maths, literacy, design and problem-solving aren’t abstract — they’re tools for doing something real. Drama and storytelling can work in exactly the same way, placing learning inside a meaningful, memorable context.
This is one of the reasons I love working with shadow puppetry in schools. It naturally brings together storytelling, art, design, performance, and teamwork — and it does so in a way that feels magical, playful, and accessible to children of all ages.
When you book a shadow puppetry performance and workshop with me, pupils don’t just watch a show — they take part in a rich, cross-curricular learning experience:
Literacy & storytelling – creating characters, narratives, and performances, often linked to texts you are already studying
Art & design – designing and making puppets, exploring silhouette, shape, and visual storytelling
Science – discovering the properties of light and shadow, and how images change with distance, scale, and angle
Teamwork & communication – working in groups as narrators, performers, and designers
Fine motor skills – cutting, assembling, and manipulating puppets, supporting dexterity and hand–eye coordination
Confidence & performance – presenting work to others and taking pride in something they have created
Perhaps most importantly, children have fun — and often don’t even realise how much they are learning while they’re doing it.
Shadow puppetry also shows pupils that they don’t need expensive equipment or electronic screens to tell powerful stories. With simple, inexpensive materials, they can go on creating their own shadow plays long after the workshop is over — developing creativity, confidence, and curiosity along the way.
For me, that’s what arts-based learning is really about: not just making something nice, but helping children discover new ways to think, express themselves, and engage with the world around them.
Like a lot of people (especially creatives) I often suffer from imposter syndrome.
Although it may seem a little boring to see yet another overview of what someone did over the course of the previous year it is really important to remind yourself of what you have achieved. I am a perfectionist and I recognise that this can be a very negative mindset because perfection is something we can never achieve. Social media can also be a very negative thing as you see all the best possible pictures of people’s finished work or sped up time-lapse of a project that took, hours, weeks, months or even years of work in a matter of seconds and it is tempting to think that we can only be worthwhile if we create things that are the same as what others are putting out there in their feeds.
So, stocktaking and reflecting on what we have actually achieved in a year can give a big confidence boost when you realise that while you may not have ticked off everything on your perfection wish list, you have done a whole bunch of really great stuff. This can give you an “oh, yeah! I am doing pretty well” moment and an opportunity to pat yourself on the back.
If on the other hand you feel like 2025 was an absolute waste of time and space for you, try not to let that worry you either. Just remember that without even doing/”achieving” anything that you are a Wonder of the Universe just for existing. There has never been, and never will again, be anyone exactly like you. We don’t have to “achieve” things to be worthwhile and if you are able to slow down and appreciate the little things around you in the present moment instead of worrying about the past or the future that can be very good for your spiritual and mental health.
So below is my list of things I did in 2025 that I’m proud of and links to the blog posts with more pictures/videos etc. for you to peruse:
🎆We were thrilled to be invited back to Congleton Food & Drink Festival with our Mad Hatter’s Tea Party walkabout show (CLICK HERE for show page).
🎆I was booked to run workshops and perform my Shadow Puppet suitcase shows for the opening of the new Sound & Vision Gallery at the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford. CLICK HERE for blog post.
🎆I performed as “Mom” and “Kai” for our first ever “Al & Kai’s Faboo News LIVE” show in Blyth at “The Happy Space” Inflatable Venue from Stellar Creates. This was part of the “Blyth Celebrates” events.
🎆I attended lots of theatre, puppetry, light festivals and networking events including Newcastle Puppetry Festival to see Matthew Robins “A Million Tiny Ants”, Stockton International Riverside Festival, Lightpool – Blackpool, Light Up Lancaster, Lumiere – Durham, “The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe” at Blackpool Winter Gardens, and Skipton International Puppetry Symposium, (where I also ran a shadow puppetry workshop and performed my shadow suitcase shows).
🎆I participated in many of the fantastic events held for the Centenary of the British Puppet & Model Theatre Guild including an online Q&A with TV Puppetry legend Phil Fletcher, an online show & tell event and last but not least the fantastic Marionette Masterclass with Ronnie le Drew held at the Harlequin Puppet Theatre at Rhos on Sea, in Wales.
🎆I auditioned for Theatre by the Lake with a Shakespeare monologue and also for a Peppa Pig show with puppets.
🎆I also created a quick marionette using KNEX, which I even used to make a little festive demo video with. When I have time in between everything else this year, I will be renovating/restringing a wooden vintage Pinocchio marionette I got off Ebay so if you fancy keeping up to date with that and all my other news, please “follow” the blog (you can also subscribe to have it sent to you via email as a newsletter).
I’d love to hear something you are proud of from last year or what you like to do in January to reset and get ready for the New Year in the comments 😊.
I attended the first ever Skipton International Puppetry Symposium this last weekend.
It was hosted by Skipton Town Hall who did an excellent job. The talks and networking opportunities were great. It was really lovely to see old friends and people who I’ve only encountered online before plus making new contacts.
In the first panel discussion at the Symposium was posing the question “Where are we Now” in terms of the puppetry community. The panelists were Mike Dixon from the British Puppet Guild, Cariad Astles from BrUNIMA, Malcolm Knight from PuppeteersUK, Hugh Purves from The Puppet Centre (which is just getting back up and running again after a gap) and Clive Chandler from the PJF. Malcolm also brought his experiences from The Scottish Mask & Puppet Centre to the discussion as well.
David Micklem introduced the discussion and talked about how he felt that in the 90s puppetry was on the fringes but with productions such as “War Horse” and giant puppets by Royale de Luxe arriving on the scene puppetry arrived, (in terms of recognition of the artform).
It was acknowledged that things were difficult now in terms of getting work and funding and that we are in fact down to just one puppetry National Portfolio Organisation getting regularly funded by the Arts Council (Theatre-Rites). Clive also mentioned the lack of support for the arts from local councils now (Birmingham’s arts budget has completely gone and the Cannock Chase museum that Clive has been performing in regularly for years has also gone).
The speakers talked a bit about the organisations they were representing and then questions were taken from the floor including the discussion of the fact that there is not a tick box for puppetry as an art form on the Arts Council England grant forms when even relatively niche art forms like mime are represented. There was a lot of discussion about how we can start working together as a cohesive group to advocate for puppetry as an art form. PuppeteersUK was originally set up to do this job of bringing the puppetry community together in the modest form of a listings directory on a website and sending out a weekly newsletter. Nowadays anyone can make their own website very easily so the monetary support for PUK has been dwindling.
On the second day of the Symposium I attended the Devoted & Disgruntled session (CLICK HERE for my previous D&D at Leeds Playhouse post, CLICK HERE for D&D at The Little Angel Theatre post) at which one of the breakout sessions was discussing how PUK needed to change to address the new issues affecting the puppetry community and what new form it needed to take. This session segwayed into a different session that was thinking in a very freeform creative sort of way about an app for puppeteers that would be more like a game so that people (and younger people in particular) would want to engage with it something like Club Penguin. This was described as Puppet Utopia and was structured as a village with various areas to do different things e.g. a bank to talk about/access funding, a school for accessing puppetry training, a garden where new ideas can grow etc. etc.
I also formed my own session about how puppeteers can get paid a fair wage when the funding climate is so difficult and looked in on a session about the UK puppet festivals working together and maybe forming some sort of network and perhaps co-commissioning new work (something like WithoutWalls does).
You can also read about the discussion of Other Sectors & Wider Networks by clicking the link HERE
You can access the reports from all the Open Space discussions that have ever been held on the Devoted & Disgruntled website and search for whatever topics are relevant to you (including puppetry) in the drop down menus. I notice that not all the break out sessions have uploaded a report, so if this is you, please take a moment to upload a report of your group to the site, as this is a great resource for the puppetry community to be able to access.
You can see at the top some photos from the Halloween Shadow Puppetry Drop-In Workshop that I ran on the Sunday and below is a little video snippit from one of my audience members at my “Edward Lear’s Nonsense” show.
Do please leave a comment if you have anything to add about the Symposium and don’t forget, you can subscribe to this blog, if you would like to receive regular updates.
If you would like to book one of my suitcase shows or a workshop, you can Contact Me Here 😊.
After trying out all of the puppets that I have made so far with the Over-Head Projector and shadow screen I have been working out what extra puppets are needed to tell the stories. In many cases it is different sizes and arrangements of puppets I’d already made. You can see from the pictures that what I have been working on were larger scale articulated versions of Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf which are to be used directly against the screen itself rather than on the flat bed of the OHP. I have also created a large scale head for Little Red Riding Hood to talk to the wolf, with an articulated mouth, (this is for the “Ooo Grandma what big eyes you’ve got” scene).
We have also decided to make two versions of the show, firstly a 30 minute version that I can do by myself which will feature “Little Red Riding Hood”, “The 3 Billy Goats Gruff” and “The Enormous Turnip” and an hour long version which will use two puppeteers (myself and Tim Austin) which will include the other three stories as well (“Goldilocks”, “The Frog Prince” and “Chicken Licken”).
Please feel free to leave a comment or a question about the puppets and how they are made. 😊
Please take a look at my WHERE YOU CAN SEE ME page for info. about free shadow puppet making workshop and shadow puppet suitcase performances at Skipton Puppet Festival coming up Sunday 19th of October.
Today (21st of March) is World Puppetry Day. You can read more about the origin of the day and special events that are being organised for it on the Unima website HERE.
If you are new to the World of Puppetry you might wonder what puppetry is for, or why it matters. Why use a puppet when you could get an actor? A person has a much wider range of facial expression than a puppet and: as Gerry Anderson (of Thunderbirds fame) discovered when he moved from puppetry to live actors, you can just tell the actor to go somewhere and pick something up and they can do it with minimal technical difficulties. Gerry always disliked the way the puppets that were made for his shows walked and in order to get maximum realism had his characters seated or shot from the waist up wherever possible.
A relaxing interlude for International Rescue (The Classic Thunderbirds exhibition by “Supermarionation Recreations” at Stone Puppet Festival)
The problem with using Gerry Anderson as an example is that although he and Sylvia Anderson (who made a massive contribution to “Supermarionation“) did a fantastic job and produced amazing work they never really wanted to work with puppets. They used them as a stepping stone to get a foot in the door of the TV production world and Gerry’s aim was always to produce TV shows with people. Because of this, their shows kept leaning further and further towards realism and realism is not generally where puppetry shines.
One way that a puppet outshines a human actor is that however good an actor they are, they are still someone pretending to be someone else and there are many famous actors who basically play themselves in every role. This is fine if the character is like them but it often jolts you out of the story if you are comparing them to their performance/appearance in other films, TV or stage shows that you have seen. A puppet is designed to BE the character and there are no physical limitations to overcome, no make-up or prosthetics needed to alter the actor’s appearance because you can make them EXACTLY how you want the character to be. They don’t go home at the end of the day and back to their real life. The puppet always IS the character.
This is particularly useful for magical/fantasy/science-fiction stories as a puppet can be a dragon, a robot, can fly, can transform from one thing to another. Shadow puppets in particular can easily perform tricks such as shrinking, growing or disappearing altogether.
One of the reasons I love making puppet shows is that they combine so many different elements and skills. There is the art of designing and making the puppets which are often beautiful showpieces in themselves. There is the movement of the puppet which tells the audience all about the character. A villain might move in a slinky, sneaky way, silent and secretive. A hero might be more upright and move confidently and boldly through the space. A cowardly character would move with trembling and hesitation and be able to shrink down and cower away from perceived threats. They are fantastic aid to storytelling and can tell stories without words or in addition to words so that those who have a visual preference or are D/deaf can follow what is happening. The fact that they are puppets also allows people to project their own thoughts, feelings and emotions onto the characters and everyone will have their own individual experience of the same show. Puppets with carved wooden features that do not move are often perceived by audience members to change expression through the puppeteers skill, use of lighting and the audiences own imagination, (which is not to be underestimated).
Marionettes from a production of “Beauty & the Beast” (Exhibited at Stone Puppet Festival)
Another reason I love the artform of puppetry is that anyone can make a puppet using cheap materials or even things that would otherwise be thrown away. The main limitation is your imagination and skill, (and skills can be learned and improved through doing and trying things out). A lot of my workshops making shadow puppets use cereal or pizza boxes as this is a perfect thickness to cut out and be sufficiently sturdy to work with. To make a show all you need is a puppet (or a hand if you want to do hand shadows) a light source and a screen (which could be a sheet pegged to a line) or a blank wall.
Puppetry can be less intimidating as an artform than some as anyone who has played with their toys at home and acted out different characters with them can bring a puppet to life. Obviously, specialised techniques and practice improve a performance but there is nothing wrong in simply enjoying playing with puppets and amusing yourself, your family and friends. Play, in itself, is hugely beneficial: educationally, emotionally and great to promote good mental health, confidence and creativity. And, lets not forget, creativity is beneficial not just of itself but is great for problem solving and helps with all subject areas in a curriculum and all kinds of careers in later life.
With so many councils downgrading or removing arts funding altogether and arts subjects and teachers disappearing from the curriculum at Primary, Secondary and Higher Education level an art form that is possible for people to have a go and create their own work themselves is increasingly important.
Puppetry is also able to give confidence and a voice to those who might otherwise be too shy to speak. A child can speak using the puppet’s voice without worrying about being judged and can even speak as the puppet without being seen themselves (if being looked at is a problem for them). For this reason puppetry is often very attractive for neurodiverse people and can also be used as an effective therapy tool in all sorts of settings.
A Lion from the “DaSilva Marionette Circus Troupe” performed by Noisy Oyster
If you want to learn where to start or learn the best techniques then the British Puppet Guild is a very open and inclusive group full of people who are very willing to share their expertise and have all sorts of events both online and in person. You don’t have to be a professional to join and there are members of all ages and abilities so there is no worry about whether you are “good enough” to join, beginners are welcome. Members get an annual magazine put together by the membership called “The Puppet Master” full of colour photos, interesting articles and sometimes instructions to make theatres or projects.
PuppeteersUK have a directory of professional puppeteers with a wealth of expertise in different areas which you can access to find out what puppeteers are available in your area for shows, workshops and events.
BrUnima is the British arm of UNIMA which unites puppeteers and puppet makers from around the world and they are worth checking out too particularly if you interested in finding out about different puppetry traditions from around the world. BrUNIMA produce The Puppet Notebook annually which is full of in depth articles from practitioners and academics usually around a theme.
If anyone knows the makers/puppet companies who produced the Beauty & the Beast marionettes in the photos which are uncredited from Stone Puppet Festival, (I think they are from Ian Denny and Glen Holden) feel free to mention them in the comments 🙂
Puppet Lady 