For Schools | Puppet Lady

When I studied for my degree in Arts Education at Bretton Hall in Wakefield, we spent a lot of time exploring why the arts matter in schools — not as a “nice extra”, but as a powerful tool to help children learn, understand, and make sense of the world.

Over the years, there has been an increasing focus on measurable outcomes and core subjects. While literacy, numeracy, science and technology are clearly vital, however, education is about more than just passing tests. Children aren’t empty vessels to be filled with information and they aren’t robots being trained for productivity. They are curious, emotional, imaginative human beings who learn best when they are engaged, motivated and able to see the point of what they are doing.

***The Mansion Building at Bretton Hall***

During the pandemic, science and technology helped keep us safe and connected, but it was also stories, music, creativity, and shared culture that helped many people cope with isolation and uncertainty. That was a powerful reminder that the arts aren’t a luxury — they’re part of what makes us human.

Creativity isn’t separate from “serious” learning. In fact, real science, engineering and problem-solving all rely on imagination: asking “what if?”, trying things out, experimenting, and thinking in new ways. When learning becomes only about ticking boxes and memorising answers for tests children can lose that sense of curiosity and purpose. Creative approaches help bring meaning, motivation, and deeper understanding back into the classroom.

One of the most effective ways to do this is through learning-by-doing. Imagine pupils being asked to design a playground: they have to measure space, manage a budget, make decisions, explain their ideas and work together. Suddenly maths, literacy, design and problem-solving aren’t abstract — they’re tools for doing something real. Drama and storytelling can work in exactly the same way, placing learning inside a meaningful, memorable context.

This is one of the reasons I love working with shadow puppetry in schools. It naturally brings together storytelling, art, design, performance, and teamwork — and it does so in a way that feels magical, playful, and accessible to children of all ages.

When you book a shadow puppetry performance and workshop with me, pupils don’t just watch a show — they take part in a rich, cross-curricular learning experience:

Literacy & storytelling – creating characters, narratives, and performances, often linked to texts you are already studying
Art & design – designing and making puppets, exploring silhouette, shape, and visual storytelling
Science – discovering the properties of light and shadow, and how images change with distance, scale, and angle
Teamwork & communication – working in groups as narrators, performers, and designers
Fine motor skills – cutting, assembling, and manipulating puppets, supporting dexterity and hand–eye coordination
Confidence & performance – presenting work to others and taking pride in something they have created

Perhaps most importantly, children have fun — and often don’t even realise how much they are learning while they’re doing it.

Shadow puppetry also shows pupils that they don’t need expensive equipment or electronic screens to tell powerful stories. With simple, inexpensive materials, they can go on creating their own shadow plays long after the workshop is over — developing creativity, confidence, and curiosity along the way.

For me, that’s what arts-based learning is really about: not just making something nice, but helping children discover new ways to think, express themselves, and engage with the world around them.

As I mentioned in my previous post, the New Year is a good time to take stock, pause and reflect on your practice. While sorting my workspace recently, I came across some shadow puppets that I used for the British Puppet Guild Show & Tell event last year. These were from our very first Rough Magic Theatre show, The Tempest, based on William Shakespeare’s play.

Looking back at these early puppets is fascinating, because they clearly show the development of my practice. I’m still very proud of them — they worked extremely well for that show and for the way we were working at the time — but I can also see how much I’ve learned since then.

The process of making and using these puppets taught me a great deal: what reads clearly in silhouette, what works less well, and how different materials or jointing can have a big impact once a puppet is in performance.

As I often say in my shadow puppet making workshops, one of the great advantages of puppets over human actors is that the puppet is the character. It doesn’t need to adapt an existing appearance to fit a role — it can look like anything you imagine and do things that are impossible in real life.

Shadow puppetry adds a particular sense of magic to storytelling, and considering that The Tempest is a play filled with magical characters and events, it felt like a natural fit. That same quality is something I continue to explore in newer work, including our current show Fairytales of Wit, Wisdom & Witchcraft, which is booking from late Spring this year.

You can also see in the video below how different the puppets feel in performance compared with the inanimate, behind-the-scenes view. From the audience’s perspective, it isn’t the puppets themselves that are seen, but light and shadow on the screen.

Shadow images can be made to shrink, grow, appear, disappear and distort through the relationship between light, screen and object — not to mention the possibilities created by multiple light sources and coloured gels. It’s this interplay of technique, imagination and illusion that continues to draw me back to shadow puppetry again and again.

Below is a short video showing photographs of the puppets themselves, followed by the shadows in action. I used both a wall and a pop-up tent to make these quick demonstrations. They show how even simple puppets made from card can withstand many years of repeated use — these particular puppets are around 25 years old.