Kids touching puppets!

[Melonpool]

Now that you mention it, I constantly have adults trying to put the puppets fingers into inappropriate gestures.

I also had a 3 year old grab tight onto an eye mech and try his hardest to rip it loose from the puppet. It gave me a new confidence in my own building that the puppet survived without a problem, though.

Steve

 

[DannyRWW]

Hmmm... My biggest problem is everyone wants to put things in their mouths. Cookie monster hasn't helped us much there. THe thing that amazes me is that children seperate the performer from the puppet. That being said if I'm performing open with children I introduce my puppt friend and then tell them that he doesn't like being touched. This can lead to some great back and forth with the puppet as well. If its something they can laugh about instead of a strict rule they are more likely to obey it.

 

[DumbAscii]

One word: fangs

 

[matleo]

This may sound totally counterintuitive, but what I do is I give the kids a nice 'safe' way to touch the puppet. For example, if I have a character with a long nose I may suggest, "you know what (puppet's name) really likes is being pet very gently on the nose." Depending on the situation either I'll suggest it or the puppet will suggest it. I actually find most kids are pretty respectful about it and in eight years I've only had one repair that I've had to make from something a kid did (well, one repair that I remember anyway).

--Matt

 

[Frogpuppeteer]

I have the same issue as Danny with the kids putting their hands or food in the puppets mouth, but recently its also been a few adults

 

[DumbAscii]

Well puppets touching children isn't a good idea either, you could get a lot of funny looks that way

I think the idea of giving the kids a way to touch the puppet is good. Some friends of mine who had a puppet ministry had a puppet they used before and after their show to talk to the kids. He was the stunt puppet that took all the abuse. That way the performers stayed safely tucked away out of the reach of grubby paws

It's the pinching of puppet noses that bugs me!

 

[Fluffets]

Well what did they do on sesame street? They must've done something to sort the kiddies out without hurting they're feelings.... I guess that after seeing my cherished copy of Sesame Street Old Skool: volume 1. Its cherished just coz its by Jim Henson and its nice. Just no laugh track. If I ramble on any more I'll be off the subject. Anyway I've never performed live and public before for several reasons. But I imagine it must be tough having them handling our furry rod-armed friends.

 

[dkmontgomery]

My thoughts

Well, I have always had a "Don't Touch" rule which I make very clear when performing in certain areas. We have done alot of Kid's Crusades in churches and we always let the church know our policies before and when we arrive. As our equipment and puppets are on the stage for several days in a row - we always emphasize that NOBODY is allowed on the platform of behind our stage area at any time. The only time a person should come on the platform is if we are performing and we invite them up as a volunteer. I also always try to keep the puppet above the Kid's level in doing close up stuff. And I know adults like to touch puppets as well, but I normally don't permit it.

We had one bad experience in a church serveral years back where another church group met in the Sanctuary in between the regular services. I asked the pastor if my puppets and equipment would be okay in between services (as we were doing the morning and the night service and did not want to tear everything down and re-set up.) He assured me everything would be fine & that nobody would be coming near our stuff. Well, needless to say, when we showed up for the evening service - it looked like a tornadoe had ran through our puppet stage. Everything was in disarray. Neeless to say, I knew instantly that the in between group had allowed people to go through our stuff - probably some kids that weren't being watched. Plus, before I left that AM I had set up illusions, ect.. for the night service. I was slightly irritated (BIGTIME REALLY) and talked to the pastor about it. Fortunately, there was no permanent damage done. I am glad this has not happened again since that time. I got more firm after that experience at any location we were at to perform at about handeling and touching.

 

[CoOKiE]

have the puppet holding battery charger clamps in his hands... and tell the kids "if you're going to hurt me, i'll show you what these can do"

i've had the same problem.. and its hard to yell at them because you're there for them in the first place and you told them they can touch lol. But what usually works for me is having kids hug or do high fives