"Puppet Play" project @ HSC Bensonhurst Senior Center.2 8/13/2021

 

HSC Bensonhurst Senior Center

Puppet Project

Blog 2 8/12/2021

We were thrilled to have as our guest artist, the renowned puppeteer, Carol Sterling. Carol has always been a staunch supporter of The Memory Project and we were honored to feature her fantastic artistry in today’s class. She is an arts educator and teaching artist who has devoted her life’s work to advocate for the importance of arts education in the lives of people of all ages, from youth to older adults, and has served in arts and education leadership positions on local, state, regional, national, and international levels for over fifty years. She has conducted workshops throughout the US, and in many other countries, including Australia, China, Germany, Great Britain, Israel, Japan, Spain, Uganda & India. 

Carol shared simple puppets made from recycled materials, such as a paper plate, a bottle, a toilet paper, and paper towel roll. Our students came prepared with a paper plate, a plastic bottle, and an envelope as well as markers. She stressed the importance of the eyes of the puppet and showed us a poster she had created with different styles of eyes, all large and expressive. Students drew a face on their chosen object and followed Carol as she moved her puppet in time with bouncy music. Adding a voice to the puppet helps bring an inanimate object to life and creates character so Carol taught us how to add a voice, by alternating between squeaky and gruff. 

“When a puppet speaks or sings it moves”. A puppet needs to move to bring it to life, so using the puppet head our students made last week, Carol asked them to follow her as they sang along to the popular tune, The Moon Represents My Heart, 月亮代表我的心. This was a joyful moment, listening to our students sing and watching as they animated their puppet head. 

Carol manipulated some of the many other puppets she has made, including for the ABC TV Show, “The Story of Chanukah”. Photos of her teaching puppetry in India, China as well as schools in New York were shared as Carol briefly told of her varied experiences as an educational puppeteer. So many people have learnt the joy of puppetry from Carol, including young children, teachers, and older adults. We asked Carol why she is passionate about puppetry. “Puppetry has the potential to motivate and reinforce student learning in all curriculum areas. It helps people tell stories, develops critical thinking and problem-solving skills, and celebrates one’s own culture while learning about the culture of others. It also helps people develop their imagination and creativity while reinforcing individual and cooperative teamwork. 

We had a wonderful visit with Carol and learnt so much.



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