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Children ages 6 to 12 are invited to create their own robot rod puppet during a hands-on workshop at the Mountlake Terrace Library Monday, July 6.
The program, “Make a Robot Rod Puppet! No Batteries Required,” will be from 5:30-6:30 p.m. Participants will use a variety of creative materials to build large, silver-colored robot puppets with movable heads and bodies.
Puppeteer Cheryl Hadley will guide children through the construction process and demonstrate how rod controls allow the puppet’s head and body to move independently. All tools and supplies will be provided.
Hadley told My MLT News that she started puppetry as a children’s librarian where she used a puppet dog during preschool storytime each week.
“To the children, the dog was alive. It didn’t matter that my hand was clearly inside and my lips were moving,” she said.
Hadley said since she joined the Puppeteers of America and their affiliated guild, the Puppeteers of Puget Sound, the organizations have connected her with practitioners of all
kinds of puppetry and gave her an opportunity for hands-on learning.
“I’ve found that I particularly enjoy constructing puppets,” she said.
Hadley said King County Library System’s 2014 summer science and technology reading theme “Fizz! Boom! READ!” inspired her to come up with a robot puppet that kids can make.
“I brainstormed with friends. Our best idea was to use a cube tissue box for the body with a cube of Styrofoam for the head,” she said. “I started keeping an eye out for metallic dollar-store doodads. The search for a silver ‘skin’ for the puppet led me to something called hot dog wrap. I remembered a two-part rod puppet control from a workshop and cobbled one together from the cardboard tube off a drycleaner’s hanger and a bamboo skewer.”
Since then, Hadley had made hundreds of robot rod puppet with kids in libraries, schools and community events along Puget Sound.
“Friends save their empty tissue boxes for me, and I have become a whiz at wrapping cubes,” she said, adding that certain materials need to be prepped to make the work easier for the kids.
Because workshops typically last about an hour, Hadley said she focuses on helping children quickly connect with their creations.
“At the beginning of the workshop, I talk with participants about how each thing on a robot has a function, whether it’s a dial, button or antenna,” she said. “The fun comes in figuring out what those functions might be.”
Children receive a “Getting to Know My Robot Puppet” worksheet to help develop personalities and stories for their creations. Hadley said she has accumulated a large collection of shiny materials over the years, ranging from metallic bows to miniature plastic tubes, allowing each puppet to be customized.
“The kids get very creative, and every puppet is unique,” she said.
Once participants finish decorating their robots’ heads and bodies, Hadley assembles the controls and brings the puppets to life.
“It’s absolutely magical when the kids make those puppets come alive,” she said.
In addition to robot rod puppets, Hadley teaches workshops featuring shadow puppets, sock puppets, hand puppets and foam-mouth puppets inspired by animals, fantasy characters and superheroes.
Space is limited, and advance registration is required. Organizers ask families to register only the number of children attending the program.
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