The theoretical part of this paper titled Body Puppet in the Child's Communication first presents communication. I describe what communication is, what types of communication there are and what communication and speech development are like in the preschool period. While communication is non-verbal in the first few months of life, it develops into verbal communication approximately one year after the first word, gesture, cry, babbling, etc., of most children, which then quickly develops further in the first few years of life. The interplay between verbal and non-verbal communication is present practically our entire life.
The paper goes on to present play as one of fundamental children’s activities, focusing on puppet shows as symbolic play.
The last section of the theoretical part presents puppets. Since I cannot imagine a day in preschool without at least sporadic presence of a puppet in the group, I present its role in the educational process and its integration into the curriculum. There are different puppet techniques, but the central role in this paper is assumed by the body puppet, which is used only rarely in preschool, therefore its use was additionally challenging.
In the empirical part, I present a project performed in a group of children named “Little Snails” (Polžki) in the France Prešeren Preschool in Ljubljana, called “Little Goose Lucy” (Goska Lučka). The group comprised twenty one children aged from four to six years, with two girls and four boys taken under detailed observation. Based on the story about Little Goose Lucy, we made body puppets and put on a puppet show. During project implementation, I mainly wanted to determine the role of body puppets in the communication between a child and a preschool teacher and whether and how it affects the communication between peers. Body puppets proved to be of very good assistance when interacting with a very shy and socially reserved boy, as it helped me integrate him into the group better and enabled me to help him accept other children and professional workers in the group. Another indicator of the fact that body puppets are an appropriate technique used to make children learn to participate in group activities as well as collaborate with and encourage one another was a sociogram.
When making, handling and playing with puppets (including other types of puppets available in the puppet corner, not only body puppets), children developed social behaviour, empathy, communication and relationships within the group, including a stronger capability to listen to one another as well as to different suggestions and ideas, putting these abilities into a new context and improving them considerably.
Without doubt, puppets offered children numerous experience, challenges and positive incentives in making and playing with them during the project.
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