WHAT WE ARE DOING

WHY WE ARE DOING IT

This activity guides students through researching, designing, and creating sea creature-inspired puppets using recycled materials, culminating in a collaborative puppet show.

To go through the design process by fostering creativity, collaboration, and communication skills, as well as "making" skills.

ACTIVITY MATERIALS

In this Intro Activity, you will begin to immerse yourself in the wonderful world of sea life, learn about the materials you have to make things in the studio, and put on an epic puppet show.

Take this opportunity to learn about sea creatures that are unfamiliar to you and have fun making wild and imaginative sea-inspired puppets!

A few puppet precedents:

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

5th

Investigating Sea Creatures

Summoning a Sea Creature

Creating Your Sea Creature

Documentation

The Sea Puppet Show

1st

Investigating Sea Creatures

Research (10 min) Choose one of the sea creatures from our library in the Resources Tab, or select one you know about, and research how it behaves (e.g., eats, moves, swims, rests, plays?!). Yes, you can choose a sea creature/organism that is not in the library, but it has to be able to move!

Props (5 min) Look around our studio and the shop for props that you can use to assist you in demonstrating your movement to the rest of the studio.

Pantomime (5 min) Create a 10-second video of you moving like your creature! Feel free to add sound or narrations; have fun with it! You can use your computer to take the video or the school's iPads available.

2nd

Part 1 - Gather (10 min) Look for materials that you could use to create a puppet that moves like your deep-sea creature. Keep an eye out for materials with interesting colors, textures, and shapes. Recycled materials are the only ones available!

Part 2 - Sketch (10 min) Based on the materials you have gathered, sketch out a design plan for your puppet. Try drawing your puppet design at different stages of motion and use arrows and labels to make your drawing clear. Your creature model should be around the size of your hand and fit into the 'gauges' your teachers will show. Take a photo of your sketch. 

Summoning a Sea Creature

3rd

Part 1 - Planning (5 min) We'll start by laying out the materials in the way they will go together to become your sea creature puppet! If you need to cut anything, mark it with a pencil or marker along the line where you want to cut. Put the materials on your hand, and see if you can test it out without making any cuts!

Skills (15 min) As a group, we will go through a few safety tutorials and demonstrations for putting different materials together. (Utility Knife Tutorial)

Build (20 min) You've got 20 minutes, go!

Summoning a Sea Creature

4th

Posting your deliverables (20 min) At this point, your teacher will show you through how to post images on the platform. In the Response Tab of this assignment, make a post that includes:

1. The name of your inspiration sea creature
2. A photo of your inspiration sea creature
3. Your sea pantomime video
4. Your sketch photograph
5. Your puppet photos 

Documentation

5th

Part 1 - Practice and Go (5 min) Practice your puppeteering. Remember, this is a delicate operation: you are trying to breathe life into your creation! 

Part 2 - It's showtime! (20 min) Everyone gather together and put on a collaborative puppet show. You might want to record it for posterity! 

The Sea Puppet Show