Practical Puppetry for Powerful Programs

Adding puppetry to library programs can engage learners, promote inclusive environments, breathe life into timeless classics, lift up diverse stories, and ignite imaginations. But who has time for memorizing lines, the budget for exotic supplies, or the opportunity to implement long-term lesson plans? You can do it all without complicated puppet stages, formal scripts, expensive materials, or midnight oil! Experience practical puppetry activities in action. Learn what makes puppetry well-suited to library learning and which types of puppets are best-suited to different activities. Adapt a story, song, or game to include puppets. Practice your crafting and performing skills. Return to your own library inspired and prepared to add puppetry to your own programs.

Participants will learn to:

• Define puppetry and list five basic styles of puppetry.
• Summarize the benefits of incorporating puppetry into library learning.
• Consider the role of puppetry to create engaging and inclusive experiences.
• Employ frameworks to match the type of puppet best suited to a given opportunity and adapt existing stories, songs, and content to puppetry.
• Interpret and present an existing story, song, or fingerplay using puppetry.
• Apply examples of practical puppetry in programs.

Instructor: Katie George (she/her) has been working in public libraries for over 20 years. She is currently the Professional Development Instructor at Howard County Library System in suburban Maryland, but she began her library career in the children's department. Katie has incorporated puppetry into library programs and events for children, teens, and adults. Before moving to library land, Katie performed with puppets at Walt Disney World and constructed puppets at VEE Corporation in MInneapolis. For two years she was the Resident Puppet Builder at the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta. Katie earned her MA from the University of Connecticut's Puppet Arts Program and her MLS from the University of Maryland's College of Library and Information Studies. Katie has presented puppetry workshops for the Puppeteers of America, the Maryland Library Association, the American Library Association, and in other venues.

Cost: $35.00 

Registrants can pay by mailed check or by credit card. You will be emailed an invoice with instructions to do so after registration. Payment is due by September 7, 2026. 

Lunch is included with workshop registration and will be provided on-site. Please share any dietary restrictions or food allergies when registering so accommodations can be arranged.

This project is made possible by grant funds from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) administered by the State of Michigan through the Library of Michigan.