A Skeleton Puppet Show

Skeletons make very funny puppets. They are often a part of the celebration for Los Dias de los Muertos. Perhaps you'd like to make a skeleton puppet show.

Materials you will need:

1. Heavy white paper with the skeleton puppet parts copied on it
2. Sissors
3. Crayons or colored markers
4. Music such as "Night on Bald Mountain" or "Carnival of the Animals." Or you can make skeleton sounds with a wood block as you did for your skeleton dance.
5. A desk or table to perform behind

Making a skeleton puppet:

1. Print the puppet models
   
2. Draw a hat on the head of your puppet to let us know who he or she is. For instance, a young girl might have a bow on her head. A young boy might have a baseball cap. Use your imagination to create your very special puppet! Color the hat and put in any black lines that will help your audience see the bones.
3. If you want the puppet to be stiffer, glue the paper to tag board.
4. Cut out the arms, legs and body.
5. With a paper punch, punch out the circles where the arms and legs join the body.
6. With brass paper fasteners, join the arms and legs to the body. Be certain they are very loose.
7. Tape a wooden stick to the back of the body so you can hold and move your puppet.

Getting your Puppet to Move:

1. Use some music. We like "Night on Bald Mountain" or the skeleton dance in "Carnival of the Animals." Or, make sounds on a wood block as you did for your skeleton dance.
2. Move your puppet to the music. Can you make him or her move as you did in the dance? Can he twist and bend, move forward and back or to the side? Have fun with your puppet.

Making a Puppet Play:

1. You need a story. Find a partner or work in groups of three.
   Make up a story for your puppets. You need to make up a scenario, for them, a dramatic story about what the puppets want. First decide who they are; what characters will they be. Then decide what problem they have. Could they be a brother and sister getting ready for the parade? Could their mother be making bread for the ofrenda - and the kids eat it before she can put it on the altar? Perhaps the skeletons could be scientists looking for Monarch Butterflies in the oyamal trees. Use you imagination, work together, and make up your own story. Click on scenarios for more help with how to do this.
2. Now you need to practice what the puppets will say. You can improvise the dialogue. This means you and your partners make up what the puppets say as you go along. For instance:

If you want more help, click on improvise.

3. Rehearse your puppet play. Find a desk to kneel behind. Hold up your puppets so they can be seen. Have them move as you go through your dialogue. Be certain that you use very loud "outside" voices so your audience will hear what your puppets have to say. Do the play several times, just as you will do it for your audience.

Now you are ready for your performance! Have fun!

Critiquing Your Puppet Play:

After you have finished your shows, it is a very good idea to find out what went well. Then you can think about what you might do differently if you were to do your play again. This is called critiquing the play.

Ask your audience if they could hear your characters and see what your characters were doing. Ask them what they understood about what was happening in your play, and what they didn't understand. Ask what they liked about the story.

Decide if you had enough volume, talked loudly enough. Did your puppets move so they could be seen. Think about how you can make your story clearer. Next time you can do even better!