This book has grown out of the author’s experience with puppet shows. Because the work has been so enthusiastically greeted by participators and audiences, and because there have been so many inquiries about how to have puppet shows, the book has been written.

After each performance an enthusiastic audience has come behind the scenes to get a better knowledge of just how the puppets were made, how they could walk, how they were able to perform their little tricks, how the theater was made, where the puppeteers stood, and to ask where a book could be found that would tell all about puppet plays. They have been keenly disappointed when told that no such book has been written. One mother said, “We have seven children at home. Wouldn’t that be enough to have a puppet show? One boy likes to make things.” Can you think of anything finer than a family puppet show? It is for this mother, and for others, that the experiences and suggestions of the following pages have been written. The thought that has given courage to the writing of them has been the hope that they might serve to help and encourage others to become more interested in children’s puppet plays.