The thesis, entitled The importance of puppets as sources of motivation for children, presents the puppet as the starting point for various kindergarten activities on different topics. The goal is to use the puppet and encourage children to explore their surroundings in the kindergarten and elsewhere. Such activities render the process of acquiring knowledge pleasant, exciting and interesting and show children that they actually learn through their own exploration.
The theoretical part of the thesis presents the puppet and its magical power that inspires children to be active. It points to the significance of puppet-related creative activities as successful methods of conveying knowledge and achieving goals in the educational process. The purpose of using a puppet is to develop children's creativity, improve their communication and interaction, and stimulate the process of acquiring knowledge. The way the child discovered something, what path he walked, how he felt and how much he grew, particularly in his own eyes, is especially important. The puppet encourages play and imagination, which in turn increases internal motivation. Moreover, it can motivate us to be more curious and ready to work and explore. The focus of the project with the puppet is the child that is active and creative as much as possible.
The empirical part of the thesis touches on the work with puppets and the activities that were conducted using the puppet – the group's favourite. It transpired that during this process children learn to independently think, work and cooperate, take their own decisions and accept the decisions of others. However, the role of the teacher is to create a situation in which the child can be fully active and able to develop empathy, dedication and tolerance.
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