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Fun at Sea - Day 6 - Hospital F | Puppet Portal Project phase 2
2010-11-26

Fun at Sea - Day 6 - Hospital F

Today the theme was the sea. I have prepared a little stage because I found that the shadow screen worked really well to focus attantion/atmoshphere and most importantly children around the puppets.

I worked with a small group all day consisting of 2 6 and 7 year old girls, a 3 year old boy and a 14 year old girl. There was also two other girls who made puppets but had to leave after and a little boy in isolation I visited in the afternoon. The big age range was somewhat daunting at first but we all found a really good structure to work and we really formed a nice little unit together.

The biggest challenge was motivating a 14 year old to make puppets but she was quick to assume a role best described as my assistant and ended up having fun recording and editing the little movies the younger ones made. She also helped me put the images on Ait Eile and wrote a diary entry about the day but after we saved it the entry dissapeared somewhere. Hopefully i will find it...

We also managed to link up with Africa to the amazement of our puppets and children. They had a lot of fun dancing to the african music and had a magical chat with the puppets from "Africa" about how Bird , the bird puppet, was naughty and lonely today but that he is ok now because he found friends today. I think the african puppets brought real magic to the playroom and created a secret world for children only.

In the afternoon I worked with a boy in strict isolation who was quite sceptical about puppets at first but got so into it after the first puppet that I had to bring him back more materials so he could make more sea creatures in the afternoon.

Alltogether it was an eventful and fun day (at sea) and not as overwhelming as I expected it to be. The support and enthusiasm of the teaching and playroom staff about the project is also really reassuring.