One of the best ways to include children in a puppet performance is to sit on the floor in a circle together and have the children interact with the puppets as the story is told. This method of puppetry is quite effective with kindergarten age children and grades 1 and 2.

Over the years I have developed several stories performed in this manner and have found certain stories lend themselves well to this style. The puppets are usually table puppets made of felt or colored fleece which are flexible enough to bend which brings them to life through movement and gesture. Simple knitted or felted animal figures can be utilized as table puppets as well.  

I have three seasonal festival stories that I bring annually to the kindergarten.  I have also developed other stories that my 1st and 2nd grade students perform as part of our puppetry program that I teach at my school. These grade students perform with the puppets they have made themselves.  My 1st graders perform The Story of the Root Children and the 2nd graders perform the story of St Elizabeth and later in the year the 2nd graders also perform the story, Millions of Cats, by Wanda Gag with knitted kitties they have made. These stories lend themselves quite well to this Circle Floor Puppetry method.

The story choice must lend itself to a focal stage setting within the circle where the primary action takes place. It is where the storyteller/puppeteer sits with the main characters acted out in front and these characters take a simple journey around the circle,  perhaps encountering  other characters along the way, and then returning to the beginning setting which either can be the same place in the story or somewhere different. There are variations to this format but basically the story has to lend itself to returning to where it started. The journey is often aided with a song or musical instrument while the puppet journeys. 

Halloween Story

During Halloween season I perform a story with kindergartners, telling a story about a lonely pumpkin and kitten who set off on a journey to find a boy and girl. A real pumpkin rolls along with the knitted kitty “pit-patting behind” moved from child to child within the circle while kept on the silk scarves scenery set on the floor in front to them. In the course of the story the pumpkins gets carved into a jack-o-lantern (prepared ahead of time) by both a woodsman and carpenter puppet and the kitty rides inside to keep out of the rain. Two times around the circle the pumpkin and kitty journey as the story unfolds until they find the boy and girl, they have been looking for who in turn have wished for a jack-o-lantern and a kitty. They all take joy in finding each other.

Thanksgiving Story

During our festival of Thanksgiving I bring a story about a squirrel who has been injured and now limps along. His injury prevents him from gathering enough nuts so he often goes hungry. My felted squirrel is acted out in front of me on the colorful silk scarf scenery spread out on the floor while I narrate the story.  This silk scenery extends around the circle.  Squirrel is very sad and hobbles under a piece of silk and is now hidden from view in front of me while the story shifts to Mrs. Chipmunk who now gets uncovered and acted out in front of me.  Mrs. Chipmunk busily sorts through all her various nuts deciding what to make for her Thanksgiving pudding. She recalls that the last time she saw squirrel he looked thin and she decides to bring him a Thanksgiving meal. She takes up her basket and places a few nuts in it and journeys round the circle to his house (heading off to my left) while the children seated in the circle move her from one child to the next while she is kept on the floor within the circle floor scenery. Along Mrs. Chipmunk's journey she encounters animals who greet her and enquire where she is going on Thanksgiving morning. Each animal gives her food to take to the hurt Squirrel. These animals are strategically hidden within the circle and are uncovered when Mrs. Chipmunk arrives and are moved by an adult or an older child sitting within the circle as the story narration continues to unfold. The animals are woodland creatures such as a porcupine who offers a turnip, a rabbit who offers a carrot and two little field mice who offer an ear of corn. This particular story takes a total of four adults to move the animal puppets including me as the storyteller. These adults usually are comprised of the teacher, their assistant and either a parent or an older grade student and me. I give them a brief description prior to the show of what is expected but their main task is to follow my storytelling words. Older kindergartners could take the place of these adults after seeing the show performed if the performance was to be repeated.

Mrs. Chipmunk finally arrives at Squirrel's house, having journeyed around the full circle and once again the story takes place in front of me, as the storyteller.  Squirrel has been uncovered and greets Mrs. Chipmunk and is very grateful for the gift of the meal. Mrs. Chipmunk sets the table with the food she has brought and the two sit at the table together  but just before they  begin to  bless their meal they hear the pitter pat of animal feet and one at a time the animals, who earlier had given food, come to join the festivities. First the field mice come running to join Mrs. Chipmunk and Squirrel at the table. Next Mrs. Rabbit comes hopping up and third comes Porcupine. I play a little xylophone to accompany the movement of the animals’ pitter patting along. The last to join is bear who has been kept hidden to my left this whole time. I uncover him as I share that he was just settling in for his long winter’s nap when he smelled the delicious food and heard the festivities at squirrel’s house. Bears never like to be left out so along he lumbers round the circle heading to my left accompanied by the deeper tones of the xylophone. When he finally arrives, he joins all the other woodland animals around the table and they sing a blessing together, which is the same song sung by the children in the kindergarten when they bless their own meals. So together all the kindergarten children sing their blessing song and the story ends with a silk scarf covering the animals seated around the woodland table having enjoyed a most delicious meal of thanksgiving together. “Snip, Snap, Snout; this Thanksgiving story is all told out.”

What is wonderful with this kind of storytelling is the ability to weave into the story narrative the correct puppet movement in response to the occasional child who hops the rabbit too high to be silly. The storyteller can include in the storytelling, “and the rabbit took little hops just right for its size.”

St Nicholas Story

Another seasonal story, which I love to perform in this method, is St Nicholas. The story I use is an adaptation of Margeret Meyercourt’s story version. This story is fun to perform because it includes a large ship which I originally made from paper mache. Bishop Nicholas rides in it around the circle to bring gifts of food to the village that lay across the sea.  The ship is accompanied by the sounds of an ocean drum (which is gently tilted by another adult in the circle) creating the sounds of the ocean waves. The story begins in front of me on the floor setting with Bishop Nicholas puppet sending his servant puppet to ask for food from their town so that he can take it to the people across the sea whose people suffer from hunger. The servant returns with two baskets of food while the narration says, “…He returns with basket upon basket of good food to eat.” Bishop Nicholas then calls for his ship (which has been kept covered up until this point set back to my right side) and the baskets of food are loaded onto the boat and Bishop Nicholas takes his place in front of the ship. Off he sails as the boat is pushed along to my left by the students sitting in the circle who gently push the boat one student at a time as the boat goes round the circle accompanied by the sounds of the ocean drum waves.

When Bishop Nicholas arrives at the village after going around full circle and having returned in front of me again, he goes to the first house he sees and leaves the basket of food by the door and knocks and hides. The food is received by a daughter (puppet) with gratitude and now all the puppets are covered from sight including the ship while I hum a tune. Next, I place my finger in a small sized version of St Nicholas on his horse, a finger puppet that has been set off to my side strategically set up of which I uncover him with my hand hidden by a silk and lift him up within the blue heavenly background draped around my neck and the small St Nick rides through the heavenly skies in front of my chest area. In the narration I state, “Today St Nicholas lives up in the heavens…” Meanwhile with my other hand I uncover the Mother Mary finger puppet who is holding the Christ Child. She is pinned up in the heavenly sky silk in my chest area and speaks to St Nicholas. This takes a bit of practice and is a bit tricky but is effective. I close with a song and St Nicholas rides off disappearing behind the blue heavenly silks and Mary is hidden.  Note about the ship: I originally made my ship with a flat bottom out of paper mache. It had worked well over the years. I had plans to make a new one when I came across a large wooden ship at a secondhand store and with the help of my husband, we adapted it for the floor stage with small wheels and screwed in a circle cardboard perch where Bishop Nicholas can stand without falling out. A touch of Velcro to the inside of Bishop Nicholas’s cape and to his round cardboard perch ensures he doesn’t pitch into the sea inadvertently.

I have been doing these shows for a number of years now and can offer a couple of helpful tips for this kind of puppetry.   I have found that sitting on a yoga block within the circle allows my legs to be folded underneath me and out of the way. By kneeling in this position, it allows one to reach further and the yoga block helps keep the weight off one’s legs and ensures you can stand up afterwards! Another tip is the use of narrow and long silk scarves for the circle scenery.  Of course, any silks will do but the narrow type are easier to press and the width of a wider silk won’t need to be folded under otherwise.   I have found some 15” x 60” and 14” x 72” size habotai scarves that I have dyed which makes set up much easier. I have also purchased some wide silk habotai fabric at 70” wide and ripped the length at the same measurement so I had a large square. This can go in the center of the circle with added smaller silks for embellishment. Again, it simplifies set up.

I hope you enjoy exploring this lovely way to do puppetry with kindergarteners and early grade students.