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Hospital D Day 6 | Puppet Portal Project - hospital D
2009-06-03

Hospital D Day 6

I knew five of the six children today - a new situation , they had participated in Puppet Portal on different days over the last three weeks and shared their experiences. This way they kind of knew what to expect- which I felt made them more independent and more in control of their decisions, as well as linking the once-off-wednesday workshops together in one project.Last week we started a "postal" link up between the hospitals-sending on puppets-, which meant that we received a parcel from Hospital A with a puppet.

I feel very positive about the surprise-element this brings to the sessions: the shared action of opening the parcel , and then letting the sent puppet and it`s story inspire the making process.

We received a moonwalker , reading his travel journal we found out he had left his home in search for colour. Children made "colour puppets", gathering a pile of materials of their chosen colour and using newspaper and tape to create a shape. All the children seemed to enjoy the making a lot, including a nurse who made a very colourful Rainbow puppet. It was nice knowing the children a bit from last sessions, one boy who must just have been very tired last time surprised me with his energy, - another girl participated the third time but this was actually the first time she performed..

There were some sound problems with the live link up and lots of noise so we went for a quiet link up- still communication with the other puppet seemed to be fun and some non verbal communication took place through synchrone actions/ mirroring.

The children were all rather tired after the link up, still we performed and filmed little scenes of thir puppet`s encounters with moonman in an improvised set assembled from last week`s props.

In the afternoon three children came back, each of them quietly yet busily were on working on the project. One boy aged 6 , together with the teacher student, drew and wrote into the Moonman s journal which will travel on with him to Hospital B (a quote from his evaluation form: Did you learn any new skills today? - All about the moonman.) The two girls helped picking and naming images, one wrote the journal for Ait Eile, another wanted to see how the films are put together to one so we started editing.

The afternoon I felt really worked, but for the performing / Play/ Filming I m still in search for a perfect practice!

Nurses (especially as they come with repeat patients) get more and more involved which is fun and teachers are more at ease and helpful as well , still I feel there is much more potential and many ideas for engagement and visibility of the project- yet little time.

I am really looking forward to next week`s surprise puppet.