If you have several puppets you might want to make a small notebook listing the characteristics of each puppet.
- Is this puppet male or female?
- How large is this puppet? (A tiny finger puppet will probably be much shyer than a large hand puppet.)
- Is my puppet an animal or person? If he is an animal, is he able to speak or will he be limited to animal sounds such as growls, hoots or grunts?
- Is my puppet an adult or a child?
- Is my puppet silly or serious?
- Is my puppet colorful and flamboyant or is he shy?
- What kind of voice does my puppet have? Is it high? Low? Squeaky? Does he have an accent of some kind?
- Does this puppet have a catch phrase or a distinctive sound
that will help to identify it to the audience? [For example: a frog can
say "ribbit", "chug-a-rum", or some other froggy kind of sound. Kermit the
the Frog says "Hi-ho." I have a well-read frog who says "Read-it! Read-it!"]
The catch phrase or sound can act as an anchor to help you keep the rest
of the puppet's accent or style consistant from one time to the next.
Write this and any other information you feel is important to remember. Then when you present a story or show you will be able to recreate your puppet's personality consistantly from show to show. [If you don't think this is important, watch the muppets sometime and try to imagine Big Bird with Oscar the Grouch's personality--see how important it is?!]
Click here to go to the Puppet Personality Form
Click here
to see an example of the Puppet Personality Form with information I included about one of my puppets.