Where the name comes from
A stage puppet is worked with the hand going in from below, the way a Punch and Judy puppet is held. Your forearm is upright beneath the character. On a puppet stage it stays hidden behind the playboard — the front ledge of the stage — so the character can be lifted into view. The audience then sees the character and not the person playing it. That stage is what gives stage puppets their name.
One hand does the work, whether it is the large build or the small one. Your other hand stays free for a prop or for a second character to reply, so even one person can carry a whole dialogue.
Just as much at home without a stage
A stage is not a requirement. Nobody needs a different hand puppet just because there is no stage, and if you buy a stage later, the characters for it are already in the cupboard.
What changes is the situation. Behind a stage the character stands on its own; in a circle it turns towards one child at a time. The same stage puppet does both.
Two builds
This category has two builds, a large one and a small one. The small one is made for children’s hands and is not simply a scaled-down version: small hands get a surer hold in it. Children work the large build just as well; it simply reaches further up their forearm.
The product name tells you which build you are looking at: the small one is marked as such.
How to choose
Whose hand is playing?
If it is mainly a young child playing, the small build is the safe choice. The large build is worked by adults and children alike. Often both are worth having side by side: the adult takes the leading part, the child answers with a character of their own.
What should it be able to do?
What can be worked differs from one stage puppet to the next, so it is worth checking each one:
- A movable mouth – on many of the animals. You set the rhythm of the speech with your hand, and that carries a conversation.
- A movable beak – on some of the birds; often the most striking movement the bird has.
- Movable front legs – on some, for gesture: pointing, taking hold, pushing something away.
- Special touches – on a few, such as the elephant, whose trunk is worked by an elastic cord, or the shoebill, which clatters its beak.
One character or an ensemble?
One character that does plenty of talking is enough to begin with. A second becomes necessary as soon as two parts meet. A contrasting pair works well: one character with a plan and one that sees through it. More join as soon as a new story calls for them.
Who is the audience?
Anyone playing regularly behind a stage chooses differently: there the role has to be clear the moment the character appears. A crocodile brings menace, a rabbit innocence, a lion authority — all of it settled before a word is spoken. Playing in a circle or at a bedside, you are more likely to choose the animal the children like best, and by how long it is comfortable to hold.
Where stage puppets are played
In a nursery, one character takes the morning greeting, and the group often settles the moment it appears. Schools use stage puppets in performances, and on a puppet stage at nursery or at home they take the parts in a play.
In therapy and care work a hand puppet is someone to talk to, close without being pushy. People look at the character rather than at the practitioner, and things often get said that would otherwise have stayed unsaid. At a library story time it sits on the reader’s hand and listens in; children often look at it first and only then settle into the story.