[WATCH NOW] Learning with puppets: When learning is fun

The big room’s walls are decorated with festive colours and is full of excited toddlers excited with a bunch of puppets talking to them, giggling with every funny action of the puppets, and bursting out with loud claps to the stories they act out. It’s a vibrant atmosphere!

Jatra, one of the leading crafts and fashion houses of the country, organised a festive program titled ‘Ree Te Reetu’ to introduce the Bangla alphabet ‘Ree’ and the seasons to children at its Banani outlet on November 6.  Jol Putul Puppet Studio presented the theme to the children with their performances. It included a sock-puppet performance enacting various characters, and a shadow-puppet presentation portraying the theme in a vivacious way.

The daylong program also included a shadow-puppet making workshop and painting workshop with the children, and a presentation on ‘Why do we have Seasons’ by Bangladesh Science Outreach, a science program volunteered by university students.  

Popular musician Anusheh Anadil, also the founder and owner of Jatra, said, “Living in an urban setting does not allow us to spend much time with our children. They don’t get a chance to learn from us in an interactive way.  This merry event is a small initiative to engage the children to learn new things in a fun way.”

“Jol Putul Puppet Studio has been with us from the very beginning of this initiative. With their performances we are trying to introduce the children to things that are new to them in an entertaining way. It is necessary to think like children in order to interact with them in a friendly way and make them learn something new, and that is what the speciality of these puppeteers, who are forever young in their hearts,” she added.

Puppetry is an effective tool to teach children with its lively and interesting performances. The art form can be integrated in primary education system to make learning fun, said Al Amin Khondokar, program director at Jol Putul Puppet Studio.

“Use of puppet can be very effective to make children learn the basics of life. Just telling them to do this or that without explanation, for example, that they should behave well, they should not quarrel with others, or that they should follow the good practices, would not be very effective with young kids. But if we use puppetry to explain stuff then they really pay attention and learn well,” he also said.

“Puppetry has evolved to a great extent with newer technology, and we are now also arranging workshops on making puppets using very simple things, like a paper bag or a spoon,” he added.

The art form of puppetry can act as a powerful tool in primary education for children, making learning more fun that lasts a lifetime.