‘It’s time to play the music,

It’s time to light the lights,

It’s time to meet the Muppets on the Muppet Show tonight!’

‘It’s time to put on makeup,

It’s time to dress up right,

It’s time to raise the curtain on the Muppet Show tonight!’

If you’re of a certain age, the sound of these lyrics will instantly bring a smile to your face. If you haven’t heard of The Muppets, I strongly recommend pausing right now and searching for “The Muppet Show”.  Watch the opening credits and an episode and you’ll be transported to a world of pure escapism and unadulterated joy.  Too much?  My response – you can never have too much of the Muppets.

Jules and I (Dave), share fond memories of watching the Muppets on a Saturday night and later on Fraggle Rock and Sesame Street.  Although we didn’t know each other back then, this shared joyous experience has become a cornerstone of our friendship.

So why do so many children and adults love puppets? What draws us to these animated beings? Is it their elasticity, bright colours, their expressive faces, tactile nature, and visible kinetic energy? Yes, it is … but it is so much more.

To a young child, a puppet feels like a real, living toy. Puppets allow children to suspend belief. Even as an adult watching a puppet come to life, I love to ignore the puppeteer and immerse myself in this imaginary world. Suddenly seeing something that doesn’t move, gain a voice, walk and develop a personality is so exciting and taps into our natural sense of wonder. Children are captivated by puppets because they spark their imagination, give them permission to play and enable them to explore emotions.

Puppets also provide a sense of safety. If a child feels scared or shy about talking to an adult they might confide in a puppet instead. This offers them a safe space to explore big feelings like fear, anger or sadness without feeling exposed. Since puppets can make mistakes, act silly or show flaws without real-world consequences children can learn to explore social situations without worry.

In a world where adults often make decisions, puppets give children the chance to take control.  When children control a puppet they become the storyteller and decision-maker, boosting their confidence and sense of agency.

Years ago, Jules and I were both tasked with delivering separate lectures at a primary science education conference. The event’s title was ‘Awe and Wonder in Primary Science.’ Over lunch, Jules playfully nicknamed us Mr Awe and Mrs Wonder, and those nicknames have stuck ever since. 

Fast forward to this weekend, and we found ourselves at a puppet-making workshop run by the oh-so-talented Emma Boor of Wild Boor Ideas (https://www.wildboor.com/) We wanted to create sidekick puppets for the Let’s Do Drama website – Mini-Jules and Mini-Dave! The workshop was fantastic and we spent the entire day in a safe, productive and creative environment designing and making bespoke hinge jaw puppets. Our day concluded with an introduction to puppetry, where we explored working with our puppets and practised bringing our animated creations to life. My face hurt from all the smiling and laughing.

Once our creations were brought to life we realised they needed names so we settled on ‘Awe’ and ‘Wonder.’ You’ll see these brilliantly colourful characters in action on the website soon in our vodcasts, training videos and in the sessions themselves delivering activity monologues and the like. They cannot wait to meet you!

Dave and Awe, Jules and Wonder