Summer Special: Jan Thomas Puppet Show (+ a Picnic!)

Teen volunteers put on a smashing good show!

Summer Special : Puppet Show + Picnic
Supplies needed:
--Teen volunteers (we had 3, plus an event photographer)
--puppets
--books to convert into scripts
--props as needed

We had such a fun time tonight at the Puppet Show and Picnic that I just had to share a few pictures and details here.  Jan Thomas writes great books for puppet shows--simple, easy to act out, very few props and hilarious!  Sixty-eight people showed up with picnic suppers in hand to watch the show and enjoy making their own puppets afterwards (free printables available on Jan Thomas' own website here and here).  More details after the jump.

We made our own dust bunnies using this 60-second giant pom-pom tutorial and some paper eyes we drew and stuck on with double-stick tape. 

 

 We also ended up making our own turnip... from a bulb of garlic!

Here are some action shots from the show:

 We did both of the Rhyming Dust Bunny books,

 A Birthday for Cow, Can you Make a Scary Face (no non-blurry pictures, sorry),

 And Let's Sing a Lullaby with the Brave Cowboy.  (Yes, that's me, singing with a ukulele.  I learned how to play the ukulele for this show--three whole chords!)

a glimpse of our crowd and our fabulous teen volunteers!

Some very dedicated puppet makers working on their stick puppets. (I shrank them down to fit four faces on a sheet of paper to avoid having to reinforce with posterboard.)

The stage was made from a dryer box and a black velvet curtain was clipped to the top box flaps to be the back of the stage.  

Here's another library that did a great puppet interpretation of those Dust Bunnies.

A HUGE thank you to my volunteers!  I could NOT have done this without you and you were a joy to work with.  I'm already plotting next year's show...