Being with a Puppet: Literacy through Experiencing Puppetry and Drama with Young Children

Puppets have a long association with early childhood education and played much-loved role in children’s learning development. This paper tells the research story that investigated how magical creature of puppet facilitated connection, play, communication, engagement children who experience disability. We discovered puppets can be combined drama approaches utilized group activities for enabling literacy development by educators. In being puppet, adults found new ‘ways’ supporting all interest, meaning making, contribution to experiences. were invite into conversations, encourage their expression creativity, way was uniquely own. Educators supported relationship one more playful positive as it altered perception ability recognize non-verbal communication.