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10-Minute Puppets by Noel MacNeal — book cover

10-Minute Puppets

by Noel MacNeal
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Overview

It’s the Swiss Army knife of activity books: how to make puppets anywhere, in ten minutes or less, using everyday materials. And who better to create it than Noel MacNeal, a longtime puppeteer who learned his art from Jim Henson and Frank Oz. MacNeal shows parents and kids how to make 30 puppets using socks, paper bags, napkins, and the most important tools of all—your two hands.

10-Minute Puppets is filled with imaginative ideas, energy, and the pure, childlike pleasure of turning objects into characters. There are finger puppets: Wigglin’ Worm in an Apple, Teeny Ballerina, Little Pachyderm Sock and glove puppets: Crabby Crab and Herb the Plant Cutouts, shadow puppets, and puppets perfect for the spur-of-the moment, like Envelope Bird—make it using a deposit envelope while waiting in line at the bank. With full-color illustrations throughout, the book has step-by-step instructions for each puppet; pages of puppet parts and bodies to cut out and use; how to create simple puppet theaters; plus, a final chapter with ideas for putting on a show, drawing on nursery rhymes, fairy tales, family stories, and more.

So the food is late and your six-year-old is about to lose it. You know what to do: Using a marker and your napkin, make the fashionable Lady Finger and start entertaining. Better yet, pass the marker to your child to create Handford, and the two of you can put on an impromptu dinner show.

Synopsis

Filled with imaginative ideas and the pure, childlike fun of turning any object into a character, 10-Minute Puppets shows step-by-step how to make 30 puppets, including finger puppets, sock puppets, shadow puppets, and perfect spur-of-the-moment puppets. Includes pages of puppet parts and other templates to cut out and use; plans for six easy puppet theaters; and how to put on a show by drawing from nursery rhymes, fairy tales, family stories, and more.

About the Author, Noel MacNeal

Noel MacNeal is a puppeteer for PBS’s award-winning Sesame Street and a regular performer with the Muppets. He was also the spirit and voice of Bear in the Emmy Award winning series Bear in the Big Blue House on the Disney Channel. He and his family live in Brooklyn, where he makes puppets and performs for his five-year-old son.

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Editorials

Children's Literature - Barbara Wheatley

Accomplished puppeteer MacNeal shares his love of puppets with readers in this excellent how-to book. Parents and children will be inspired to create and imagine with the wonderful world of puppets through this book. An introduction convinces the reader that anyone can be a puppeteer, followed by a list of readily available materials that can be used for the projects in the book. The directions are clear and illustrated with diagrams and photographs for ease of use. Sidebars include comments and quotes from famous puppeteers on the power of puppets. The first puppets introduced use the reader's hand and fingers and minimal materials such as paper, napkins, and markers. Using the templates provided in the book, the reader can create a super hero or ballerina puppet out of paper and then use two fingers to create the character's legs, or use one finger in the paper elephant to create the trunk. In addition to 10 minute directions, a column called "if you've got more time..." gives additional directions for an extension for each puppet. For the elephant puppet, the extension is using finger paints to paint the hand gray that will be the elephant. Gloves and socks are explored in the next section, and can be used to create a snake, donkey, dragon, or even a spider. Cutouts using paper and straws or chopsticks and shadow puppets using the cutouts or just hands are explored in the next chapter. Readers can create cutout puppets that looks like them, a butterfly, caterpillar, peek-a-boo present, or a child sized dinosaur or Chinese New Year dragon. The final chapters explore pocket puppets and theaters. In this age of video games and 3-D movies, MacNeal encourages the reader to use the original technology—a child's creativity and imagination. Reviewer: Barbara Wheatley

Book Details

Published
November 1, 2010
Publisher
Workman Publishing Company, Inc.
Pages
173
Format
Paperback
ISBN
9780761157144

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