The Puppet Theater

Thanks to the lessons learned from good children's programming on TV (no sarcasm here, for real!), and the social situations and activities she's viewed there, Samantha has wanted a puppet theater for quite some time.  Going back to the early days, there were episodes of Caillou, Max & Ruby and Peppa Pig that all involved the characters engaging in rousing puppet shows using puppets they'd made themselves.  She has talked about doing it, looking a little sad when I informed her that we had neither puppets nor theater. 

About 2 years ago, I bought, on sale, one of those DIY sock puppet kits from Borders (must've been during their liquidation).  I thought for sure it'd be the perfect introduction to the joys of puppet theater, ready to have some serious mommy/daughter bonding over the creation of such puppets and the enthusiastic and drama-filled plays we'd concoct to entertain our feline audience.  Or daddy.  Or, more realistically, ourselves. 

Things didn't really go as planned.  Let's just say that mommy had to take over, Sammi got mad and said, "No puppets!" and glue does not make cloth/felt/plasticgooglyeyes stick to other cloth/felt/plasticgooglyeyes.  It was a disaster.  No quicker could I glue a part on, than it fell right off again, never truly achieving the adhesive contact the pages-long instruction booklet promised.  So we ended up with a sad child and colorful socks with the scaly traces of long-dried glue on them, bits of felt sticking in strange places by sheer willpower.  And, perhaps, static electricity. 

A couple of weeks ago, Sammi and I met up for lunch with a co-worker/friend who was in town from the UK for a week of meetings.  I was blown away that she brought gifts, not only for Samantha but for me, as well.  And the gift for Samantha was a DIY finger puppet kit with a sweet little theater to go along.  I had high hopes for the brilliantly tenacious properties I dreamed glue coming from the UK would have when sticking cloth to cloth, and, well, let's just say we had a near repeat of our little scenario 2 years ago.  Pulling out my secret stash of super glue, I saved the day.  I still couldn't involve Samantha in the actual making of the puppets, but the joy on her face and the excitement and enthusiasm with which she enacted the little play (and many plays since) that came along with the kit was worth every second of the painstaking construction. 

She had a ball. 

Many, many thanks to my friend Vikki for her generosity and her faith that we could pull this off!