How To Recruit & Keep Children’s Ministry Volunteers

How To Retain Ministry Volunteers

With some thought and planning, you can turn occasional helpers into committed volunteers.

One of the challenges of children’s ministry is keeping your volunteers engaged in and active in the ministry.

Perhaps you had some success finding volunteers. Some new parents have offered to help work with the young children. Why does it feel like, with every new activity or event, you are starting all over, looking for new volunteers?

Wouldn’t it be great if you had a team of loyal, dependable parents you could count on not only to help out at each event but maybe even to take over planning new programs?

It is possible. With these simple strategies, you can convert one time helpers into longtime volunteers.

Have A Plan

It takes time and planning to develop a solid team of volunteers. The keyword is cultivate. Recognize that it takes time and find a volunteer who has the time. This person should be dedicated to getting to know the parents and finding out their unique interests, discover their time commitment, passion, and skills.

By tailoring tasks to individuals’ experience and interests you are more likely to keep those volunteers and engaged beyond a single assignment.

Get Organized

In order to leverage church members’ talent and skill sets, you need to plan your volunteer assignment.

Too many times ministers ask for help at the last minute, limiting the size of the volunteer pool. For an upcoming event, even if the venue is booked, the schedule has been planned, and the food is arranged, nailing down the volunteer schedule is critical.

Parents who have jobs or care for elderly family members, for example, need notice to schedule. Advanced planning also helps you figure out what exact tasks have to get done and the skills required. How many volunteers are needed and how and when certain tasks, such as decorating or set up need to be completed.

Also, know who has volunteered in the past and what they did and where they did it.

For anyone who has volunteered, find another job for them within three to four months. At least ask, otherwise, they may disengage.

Volunteer management software or a shared spreadsheet to help you stay on top of details like this. The Top 15 Free and Inexpensive Volunteer Management Software Solutions

Be Specific And Personal

Too often ministry leaders send out a generic request for volunteers. A busy parent is more likely to respond to a finite and specific task, such as updating the ministry website or helping with cleanup, than to a notice that says “volunteers needed.”

kid min — Be Specific With Your Volunteer Needs

When you are clear about what exactly you need from your volunteer force, you can make specific requests of the members at your church. A personal appeal more effective than a call for volunteers in the church bulletin.

If you know a parent works the overnight shift, ask him to help with an event during the daytime hours, not with an evening event. If you are are remodeling your chidlren’s classroom, enlist the help of members are painters or carpenters.

At our church, members who are carpenters and have workshops build VBS sets and are happy to do it, but these same men would not necessarily be comfortable taking part in a skit or teaching a lesson to young children.

When church members feel they have a meaningful contribution, they are more likely to volunteer again.

Provide Context

People will be more likely to get involved that your ministry is well-run and that the work you are doing supports a vision and specific goals.

For example, if you are raising money for a puppet ministry, allow church members to adopt a puppet. Have pictures of various puppets and the cost. Let them donate to buy a specific puppet. Or donate lumber or materials for a stage. When they see their puppet, or their curtains being used, it gives them a sense of accomplishment in their giving.

When church members see exactly where their money is going, they will be more motivated in their giving. We all give so much to the church and to missionaries that additional giving can sometimes be hard, but when you know exactly what the need is and where the money is being used, it makes it easier and creates a willingness.

I will give my last dollar to a hungry man, but giving a little more to a generic “Feed the Poor” program can be hard when personal financial responsibilities need to be met. It is easier to give when we can see the result of our giving.

It is sometimes hard to give when you do not know how the money will be spent. By having a detailed list of your ministry’s needs and a specific goals, church members will more involved and be able to see the result of their giving.

Create A Timeline

You should know that cultivating committed volunteers does not happen overnight. Ask a first-time volunteer to contribute to a project, not be the project leader. Once a person has been involved for a while, then you can ask them to take more responsibilities.

This approach will keep volunteers from getting overwhelmed with demands or requests. Asking too much, too soon, might drive them away from taking future volunteer assignment.

If a church member offers to help, make an effort to make their first volunteer experience positive and not overwhelming. If the volunteer has a good impression of your ministry, he or she may take responsibility as your ministry grows.

Be Patient

It takes time to build a strong volunteer base. Many ministers make the mistake trying to rush newly involved members into a time-consuming commitment. When someone raises a hand to help or suggest a new way of doing things, don’t pounce.

Find out how much that person is willing to do and be grateful for the contribution. Make the experience positive and then ask for a bit more from that person to help.

Say Thank You

If you want parents and church members to volunteer a second time, show your appreciation. This is a simple but critical step in cultivating your team.

Taking the time to say thank you can motivate volunteers to do even more great work for your church and children. Just as important, refrain from showing displeasure at tasks not done to your exact liking.

For example, if a volunteer is very thorough in cleanup efforts and holds you up from going home after an event, be sure keep any impatience in check and simply say thank you for a job well done.

If a job is not up to your standards or ability, but is adequate for the task at hand, don’t be too critical. The last couple years, my young daughters have started doing balloon animals with us.

Their earliest attempts were very disproportional, but rather than just discard them, we would say, let’s put them on the table and see who would like them. They always got chosen by someone.

By keeping the learning and helping experience positive, it has encouraged them to help more and more and get better and better. Encourage, don’t discourage helpers.

Most volunteers are not looking for public recognition, but they do need to know that their efforts matter. I think appreciation is probably one of the most important aspects of cultivating volunteer having a positive experience with a volunteer situation makes a huge difference.

Avoid Burnout

It is easy when you get an eager new volunteer to give them more and more to do. Then all of a sudden, the volunteer stops coming to events, starts avoiding phone calls, or is just too busy to help again. It is a classic case of volunteer burnout. But it can be avoided.

Most burnout is either self-induced or the result of a bad experience. Try to layer your volunteers who work on major activities each year. You may have two co-leaders for each event initiative and the event itself.

Divide an event into separate tasks. One leader and team for decorating, another for treats and a third for clean-up.

It helps catch the burnout factor earlier rather than later.

Also, it may seem counterintuitive, but reducing a regular volunteer’s commitments can be a smart long-term strategy. If a volunteer is overcommitted, scale back his or her duties before they burn-out. Make them take a break or get them help.

Also help prevent burnout by making it clear to volunteers that they can decline when they are asked to take on new tasks, so that they will not commit to more than they can manage. Some well-meaning volunteers may take on more than they have time for because they believe in the work you are doing.

Remember, people volunteer for a reason, they want to be able to make a difference. Keep that in mind and they will keep coming back.

How To Prevent Tired Arms When Using Puppets

When puppeteers arms start to get tired, their puppets start to drop lower and lower behind the stage. Or, the puppeteer will lean his arm against the stage front. I have been guilty of both, and both will hurt the quality of your performance.

The secret to preventing arm fatigue when puppeteering is preparation before the show. By using short segments in your show that allow your puppeteers chances to rest their arms and by exercising and strengthening the arms before performance dates.

The following exercises will help the puppeteer become more skilled, as well as gain hand, arm and shoulder strength.

Exercise One

Use the word “drop” in this exercise. Actions are dropping movements.

Start by saying the word “drop.” The puppeteer drops his head toward his chest each time he repeats the word. Then add the arm dropping with the head each time the word is said. Finally, Add dropping the thumb with the head and arm as the word is repeated.

This movement helps the Puppeteer understand the rhythm needed for lip sync. To vary the exercise, do the same thing in reverse.

Begin by dropping the thumb as the word “drop” is repeated. Then add the arm and finally the head. To conclude the exercise, gradually stopped moving the head, then stop the arm, and finally stop the thumb movement.

Remember all movement takes place as the word “drop” is repeated. During this exercise, the puppeteer needs to watch the thumb as it is dropped. Lip-sync is improved as the puppeteers learn to express themselves through their hand.

Exercise Two

To build strength in the hand, have puppeteers take Flex balls or tennis balls in the palms of their hands. Squeeze and release the balls for several minutes.

Exercise Three

The puppeteers take a stick of modeling clay in their hand in a squeeze it is hard as possible. Then passed the clay to the other hand and squeeze. Repeat this process for several minutes

Exercise Four

The puppeteers cross their arms as if sitting quietly and listening. Then with one hand under the arm and against the body of the puppet, they lip-sync a speaker with the thumb only. They can do this while listening to television, watching a movie, or listening to a speaker. The exercise keeps the top four fingers stationary while building the muscle and coordination of the thumb.

Exercise Five

To help the puppeteers learn to speak through their hands, have them talk to each other using their hand without a puppet. They lip-sync their normal conversation. This exercise also helps begin the process of learning to react with their hand. Another variation of this is for the puppeteer to lip-sync telephone conversations.

Exercise Six

The puppeteers practice lip sync by placing one hand under a table the four fingers are against the table so they cannot move. Only the thumb moves up and down. A variation is to move the thumb up and down without attempting to lip-sync to dialogue.

Exercise Seven

This exercise is similar to exercise 6. The puppeteers place their lip sync hand in front of their bodies. Then place the free hand over the lip sync hand and hold firmly. Exercise the thumb in a lip sync motion with the four fingers of that hand firmly against the freehand.

Exercise Eight

The puppeteers vigorously shake their lip sync hands, keeping the arms as still as possible. Gradually slow down the shaking motion until it is stopped. If executed properly, the hand should be tingling. Then gently pull the top four fingers together and move thumb to the lip sync position. This is a good exercise to use during a performance after a long script or song. It relaxes the muscles and helps the puppeteers get ready for the next part of the program.

Exercise Nine

The puppeteers raised their lip sync hands into the air, spreading the fingers and thumb. Then move each finger and the thumb as the leader instructs. Move one finger at a time. Suggestion number the Fingers 1 through 5. The leader calls a number and the puppeteers respond. The purpose is to build coordination and independent movement of each finger and thumb.

Exercise Ten

The puppeteers sit or kneel in the positions they will assume behind the puppet stage. They raised the lip sync hands, keeping the elbow in the bent position, to the side of their bodies.

Move the arms back several inches if possible. Then on a count of five, move the arms forward and up into normal position. The arms will then be fully extended with the elbow locked. On each number of the five count, use an up-down motion is if the walk puppet is walking.

Building strong arms and hands is important for puppeteers. It will take time and dedication but the rewards of being able to perform with professionalism make the effort worth it.

How To Write A Puppet Script

Writing puppet scripts is a lot of fun. You can do it. Your students can do it. Some things to keep in mind if you are going to have your students write a puppet script us to just below.

Keep the script short
Less Talk More Action
Keep it simple
To narrate or not to narrate
Make the ending clear
Audience participation can be fun and engaging
Puppets tell stories. Stories don’t tell puppets.

Keep The Script Short.

Most successful scripts lean towards the short side. I have seen some great to two-hour shows, but even those or usually consist of a series of short scenes that kept things moving. You always want the audience saying more not less. And remember, every line you write is a line you have to learn.

My wife and I do puppet skits as part of our ministry programs. I write all of our scripts. They are for two puppets. I print the scripts out in 16 pt Roman Font. I always fit the scripts to two printed pages. This seems to give us the perfect length scripts. About 3 minutes.

Less Talk, More Action.

Puppetry is a physical art. Puppetry is movement, the art of bringing inanimate objects to life.

Some of my favorite shows had no dialogue whatsoever. It is fascinating to watch puppets move. Don’t get so carried away thinking about what the puppet says. Give them plenty to do.

Puppets can hold things, puppets can do things. Although I am the voice of our puppet Elmer, my wife often has him pop up to have interaction with me.

With no talking, she has Elmer gesture, laugh, look embarrassed and display other emotions and meaning. I actually enjoy these impromptu skits more than our “talking skits.”

Keep It Simple

If a show can be done well without a scene change that’s the way to go. Changing scenes takes time. It will slow down your show and that will lessen your audience’s enjoyment. When writing a script, keep the pot simple. It’s not with twists and turns maybe fun to write but it makes it harder for the audience to follow along. Keep things clear and easy to follow.

To Narrate Or Not To Narrate

My personal preference is a script without too much narration. I see a lot of shows that lean heavily on a narrator to tell us what happened, what is happening, or what will happen.

Once again, have the puppets show all these things, rather than having and narrator tell them. Dialogue between the puppets can tell everything the audience needs to know.

Elmer: Pizza, I need pizza!
Becky: If you are hungry Elmer, go to the food court.
Elmer: But this mall is soooo big! What if I get lost?

With just a little dialogue, we have now told the audience that the scene takes place inside a mall. This is so much better than having a narrator tell us that it is in a mall.

There are sometimes where a little narration can be useful. For example, at the beginning, the narrator can introduce a show and help at the scene, but then he or she should get out of the way.

Narration between scenes can give the puppeteers time to change out the set or puppets. But again, remember to keep it short. The puppet action is the main attraction.

Make The Ending Clear

It is a little uncomfortable to finish a show and have the audience that just sit there, wondering if they should clap yet. A gesture, a tagline, a musical finale, a curtain coming down can all do something to let the audience know that it is the end of the show.

Audience Participation

Audience participation can be fun and engaging. The audience can be invited to do a simple call and response, make a sound effect, or even sing along to a simple song. Getting the audience involved create greater interest.

One of our favorite things to do with Elmer is to have him pop up unexpectedly. My wife operates him, and I am “unaware” that he is there. Elmer pops up and all the kids yell, “Elmer!”

I will look, but he is always gone when I turn. I will tell the children Elmer is not there, and he will pop up again. Again the children yell his name.

We will do this several times before I catch him. Then we go into our conversation. We go to several churches over and over again, so the kids look forward to this.

If we are in a new church, my daughters always get things started. I have 9-year-old twins and they will yell Elmer’s name when he shows up. It does not take long for the other children to catch on to the game and join in.

Another favorite bit we have brought into our programs is the flying frog. At the end of our skit each night, after the puppets have descended below stage, my wife throws a stuffed frog into the air. The kids yell frog. To them it is great fun.

Puppets Tell Stories. Stories Don’t Tell Puppets.

Base your puppet script on a good idea, not just on what puppets you have. It is important to factor in the kinds of puppets you have when it’s time to write the script, but starting with an idea is always best.

Think of it this way, most songwriters will tell you that they start with the words first, then find the right music. Otherwise, you end up squeezing words into a tune and can have accents on the wrong syllable.

If you have a variety of puppets, you can write your script, then choose the puppets that best fit the storyline. If however you have made special puppets and are wondering what to do with them, here is something you can try.

Divide your puppeteers into small groups and have them improvise dialogue and actions with their puppets.

During the puppet building process, most puppeteers develop a clear idea for the physical and emotional characteristics of their puppets. When these puppets are placed in arbitrary combinations, the students must figure out how they would all interact.

The improvised interactions are fertile ground for many excellent puppet script ideas. In this way, puppets are helpful but the script itself is still based on an idea.

Elmer and Becky – two of the Possum Woods Puppets theatrical troupe.

Two of the puppets my wife and I used the most are named Elmer and Becky. Elmer is a mischievous little boy and Becky is his friend Becky is almost always the calm and rational one. These personalities are built into every script I write for Elmer and Becky.

Sometimes as a twist, Becky will have the problem and Elmer will solve her problem in the strange and unusual way which keeps with his mischievous character.

Because my audience is used to seeing Elmer and Becky, to change their names or personalities would be confusing. Elmer is always Elmer Becky is always Becky.

When writing your script, keep in mind the personality and character of your puppet. Do not have a young boy puppet play the heart of an adult. Do not have an old man puppet play the part of a 10-year-old child. Your scripts must match your puppet and your puppets must match your script.

Where To Get Ideas For Scripts.

Ideas for puppet scripts can come from many different places. Because so many of my puppet shows vacation bible school programs and in churches, my scripts often start with the message I want to send to the children and adult and the audience.

I may start with a Bible verse and build off the Bible verse. Because I am looking for an application of the verse or idea, I first create a problem for the puppets to solve which will illustrate that idea.

Sometimes I think of a funny situation or a joke something that is funny to me and hopefully to an audience, and I will build my script around that idea.

It is always good to work a little humor into your script. I wrote a script a few years ago about honesty. In the script, my puppet boy had found a wallet. He was excited to be able to buy ice cream for himself and for his friends. My girl puppet, his friend, explained that he should return the wallet.

To personalize the story involve the audience, wallet turned out to belong to the pastor of the church we were in. So each time we did the script, we inserted the pastor’s name.. This created audience involvement and added a bit of humor as the students thought it was funny that Elmer had the pastor’s wallet.

Puppet scriptwriting can be intimidating at first but if you relax and just create a story that is interesting, the rest should come naturally. You will not know how easy it is until you try.

Puppet Training – Learn the 5 Basic Skills for Great Puppetry

Good puppetry requires mastery of basic puppeteering skills. Proper handling of your puppet during a show will create life and believability. This will create a more interesting and memorable program for your audience. Great puppeteering is engaging and fun to watch. Poorly handled puppets are not.

The five basics to puppeteering are:

Entrances and Exits
Height & Position
Lip Synchronization
Eye Contact
Believable Actions

Entrances and Exits

The first important basic of puppetry is entrances and exits. A puppet should appear to walk up on stage just as a person would.

If you start your puppet towards the back of the stage, held low, and gradually raise the height while moving the puppet to the front of the stage, it will appear to be entering from afar. This is very natural.

If you just have the puppet pop up at the front of the stage, that is weird. Very unnatural.

The puppet can also come in from the side, raising it one little hop at a time as if climbing stairs. With each little bounce, the puppet will finish “one step” higher. You can exit the same way, wiht the puppet going lower with each bounce.

The bounces should not be large but should convey the idea the puppet is taking steps. Unless you are Neil Armstrong, on the moon or Tigger of Winnie The Pooh fame, you should not be bouncing high when you walk.

Always put a little hop in the movement to create the illusion that the puppet is taking steps.

Older puppets will move without a lot of bounce while younger puppets will move a little faster and bouncier. Lots of energy is what a little girl or boy should have. Not all puppets enter the same way.

Animals move differently than humans do. So animal puppets should move differently than human puppets. Animals will be bouncy, if they are puppies and move slowly if they are larger animals.

Strange entrances and exits like elevators, escalators and trap doors are distracting and detract from your performance. Your entrances and exits need to look like entrances and exits. Anything else is just bad puppetry. The only exception to this is if the elevator, trap door or escalator is pertinent to your script or the puppet’s personality.

Height And Positioning

The next basic is height and positioning.

If the puppet is too low, it looks bad and it usually means someone’s arm is getting tired. You need to keep your puppet at the proper height. How high should it be? Belly button level. If the puppet had a belly button, it should be even with the level of the stage. That way we can see the entire puppet.

If the puppet is held too low, you can end up with just a head peeking over the stage. If held too high, the puppeteer’s arm may be exposed. Puppets of the same age should be on the same eye level, as in a child talking to a child. If one puppet is older, like a grandfather to a child, the younger would normally be a little lower.

The puppet should never lean on the stage. It’s distracting. It looks bad. It doesn’t allow them to move their arms and the stage could fall. Try to keep the puppet about a foot back from the front of the stage.

Tired arms are usually the reason for leaning the puppet against the stage. I know I have been guilty of this. Regular rehearsal and exercise will help you strengthen your arms and hold the puppet up longer. Good arm strength is important to good puppeteering.

Knowing how quickly arms can tire when puppeteering, there are a few things you can do to help your team.

Keep skits short, or work in spots for puppets to exit the stage and return later.
When lip-syncing to music, keep the songs short. A one to two-minute song is great, but a four-minute song or longer can be grueling.
Upbeat music can allow the puppet to move around more. Even when holding the puppet up, the ability to move the arm around and even up and down a little helps prevent fatigue.
Use appropriate size puppets. Larger puppets are heavier and wear out your arm quicker. Adults can use large heavy puppets, but children may not be able to. My 9-year-olds prefer a 14″ puppet with no foam in the body. They are light and easy to use. My wife and I use larger 20″ puppets, but even then, my wife often switches to a lighter puppet to do songs.

Lip Synchronization

Our next basic is lip synchronization or lip-sync correct. Lip Sync is opening a mouth one time for each syllable.

Lip sync or lip synchronization is moving the bottom jaw for each syllable. The mouth is closed before the word begins and that it stays closed when the word is finished. Don’t leave your mouth open or you will bite your words. You need to open your mouth on the syllables. Not Close it.

Avoid flipping the lid. When puppet speaks, we should drop the lower jaw and keep the head stationary. People talk by moving the lower jaw, not the upper pops.

One way to control the movement of the top of the head is to place your middle finger on top of your index finger inside the puppet. Try it now without a puppet and move your hand as if a puppet is speaking. Notice how the upward movement is naturally restricted by this hand placement.

Do you always open your mouth the same amount when you speak? No question here. I move my mouth a lot more when I yell. Your mouth movements need to be appropriate to the words that you are saying.

For yelling or laughing, the mouth should be wide open. For normal talk, about half way and only a slight opening for whispering.

Eye Contact

Proper eye contact is looking where you’re supposed to. You have to see who you’re speaking at. Focus on the audience. The eyes will be pointed down at the audience if the audience is lower than the puppet stage. You don’t want to be staring at the ceiling. When two puppets are on stage together, they need to look at each other and the audience.

When one puppet is speaking, the other puppet should be looking at them. The puppet doing the speaking will be looking at the audience. When the non-speaking puppet looks at the speaking one, this cues the audience to also look at the speaker.

If the speaking puppet is looking at the non-speaker and the non-speaking is looking at the audience, the audience will be subconsciously drawn to look at the one facing them.

Believable Action And Movement

The fifth and final basic is believable action and movement.
Believable action is bringing your puppets to life. Everything your puppet does should be believable and he should look alive. Keep your movements very expressive.

You can throw back the head and open the mouth wide to laugh or hang the head down to show sadness. Looking up and away can signal the puppet is being evasive and avoiding answering a question.

Arm rods allow a puppet to point or clap. The puppets we build also have articulated hands that can hold props. Hand and arm movement can convey information and emotion.

One of the keys to bringing life to your puppet is to keep moving. Don’t stand still like a statue. A nonmoving puppet is a dead puppet. Little nods of the head while listening to the other puppet speak, or slight movements keep the puppet alive. A dead puppet is very distracting.

So those are the five basics to good puppeteering. Be sure to share them with your team and be sure to practice them every time you pick up a puppet.

If you want hands-on training for your puppet team, I am available to come to your church.

If you enjoyed this article, be sure to comment below and please share. Thank you.

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How To Create Life With Your Puppets: Puppet Manipulation

There are many simple ways that you can incorporate puppets into your classroom lessons or your library storytime.

When you’re presenting with a puppet, go ahead and just say it’s a puppet. If you don’t very young children, in particular, in the audience will probably interrupt you repeatedly to ask if the character is real, since they’re developmentally working on what is real and what is pretend in their day to day world.

Older kids will also try to impress you with how smart they are by yelling out, “It’s a puppet,” as if you didn’t know it wasn’t a real rabbit or whatever.

If you just introduce the puppet as a puppet, it won’t make it any less real or less magical for your audience.

At the same time, embrace and really believe in your puppets. While you’re manipulating it, you treat it lovingly and realistically, it will be much more enjoyable for the audience as well as for you.

Watch the puppet while you’re animating it, whether you’re hidden from or visible to the audience. If you’re visible and the audience can see you, and they see you watching the puppet, they will then watch the puppet. The audience is going to look where you are looking.

You might glance out at the audience from time to time to kind of gauge their response and include them in the conversation, but avoid competing directly with your puppet, unless you’ve orchestrated some kind of comical puppet versus puppeteer competition.

I’m watching the puppet while animating. It is also going to enable you to monitor the puppet’s movements and believability.

One of the most common types of hand puppet is structured so that you move its entire head as a unit and you can also move its two arms or paws.

Hand puppets — Simple hand Puppets Can Be Quite Engaging

Its mouth does not open and close. Your hand goes up into the puppet with your three middle fingers in it. One finger in each of the arms and one in the head.

What you’ll be able to do is make the puppet tilt its head. You can make it rub its eyes, you can make it scratch its neck.

Many of these different motions can be made internally. You can manipulate internally for the puppet.

Some puppets might have a tail or something that you want to manipulate and that would have to be done externally.

One of the most important points to remember with all hand puppets is that effective eye contact between the puppet and the audience is absolutely essential.

You know, think about how disturbing it is when you’re talking with a real person and they’re not looking at you while they’re talking with you. The same situation is true with the puppet.

You need to make certain that your puppet is making intentional eye contact with people in the audience. You know, looking from person to person.

If your audience is sitting down on the floor and you’re up on a chair with the puppet or standing with the puppet, you might need to angle the puppet face downward to look at the audience.

Since you’re going to be watching the puppet a lot while you’re animating it, you should be able to monitor the eye contact that they’re making with the audience.

The other most common type of hand puppet is a puppet with an articulated or movable mouth, similar to a Muppet.

Again, it takes practice to become skilled and really comfortable manipulating the puppet. But practice really pays off enormously, both in terms of enjoyability and believability.

A common mistake that people make when manipulating puppet mouths is for the puppeteer to just open and close the mouth so that the puppet is kind of eating it’s words rather than speaking them.

Think about what happens when you speak. You essentially open your mouth to let a word or syllable out and then you close your mouth after the word gets out.

The puppet should likewise open its mouth to release the word or syllable and close it. Open it for the next one and so on. That looks more natural.

You’re going to try and move the puppets lower jaw more than the top jaw. The lower jaw is about 70%, and the upper jaw is about 30% or so.

It’s probably going to feel unnatural at first when you start doing that. But again, it will help your puppet maintain eye contact with the audience to move it in that way.

If you’re moving the top jaw too much, the puppet’s head is essentially going to be raring back up and again and again like that. It’s important to move the lower one more than the top to practice.

One trick to help with this is to place your middle finger on top of your index finger inside the puppet. You will find you now have less movement in the top of the mouth and more with the jaw. Perfect!

Try counting to five with your puppet. As the puppet says each number your wrist is going to move gently forward, and your hand opens on the number and then your wrist returns to its original place and your puppet’s mouth is going to close.

Finally, a puppets ability to speak provides you with a really good opportunity to give him or her a character voice. It can help define that puppet’s personality. It can help maintain the audience’s interest if you do give the puppet a particular voice, however, you really need to be able to maintain it.

It’s so confusing for an audience to watch and listen to a puppet that has two completely different voices.

Often moving move puppets will have rods attached to the puppet’s arms to allow the puppeteer to move the arms. This will take practice but will result in a much more lifelike puppet.

Puppets often seem to take on a life of their own. A good puppeteer just tries to help the puppet come to life for the audience on, remember that the audience will really love it if you embrace your characters and present them with abandon because it’s not about you, the puppeteer, it is about your audience.

How To Start A Puppet Ministry

There are a lot of good reasons to start a puppet ministry. I have discovered it’s a wonderful way to share God’s word and the love of Jesus in a very nonthreatening way.

Puppet ministry is a team dedicated to sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with your church community and the world using stories, songs, and humor through the art of puppetry.

Starting in a puppet ministry requires a great deal of thoughtful prayer and a willingness to commit your time and energy to a worthy cause.

A good way to start is to sit down, write it out, write out a mission statement. Your mission statement should define why your ministry exists. A good mission statement answers these questions. Who are we? Who do we serve, what do we do and why do we do it? And does this ministry and this mission statement point to God?

Next, you can set your goals and prioritize them. Be realistic about the number of goals that you can work on at one time. Do that for each of your goals.

A great puppet ministry is designed to break down barriers in order to share the gospel and creative ways that appeal to children of all ages.

Of course, someone has to be in charge. So let’s call them the director. What qualities are needed for this position? They must be dedicated to the mission and should pray daily for God’s help and guidance. They need to have a positive attitude. Be willing to research and learn the skills needed to work in this ministry.

In starting a puppet ministry, you have to be very patient, especially when you are teaching the skills or you are learning them yourselves. So a good director will build positive relationships with the entire team and have a mission vision. Now, what are a mission and vision? Well, it can be whatever and however, you would like your ministry to share the love of Jesus with others.

Recruiting Team Members

Envision who to invite and pray for before you approach them. Make your invitation personal. No emails or texting aloud, inspire others, be enthusiastic, answer any questions and tell them why they would be a blessing to the ministry and why the ministry is a blessing and important to many.

When training a team member. Tell the person what is expected. Show them how to accomplish the task and allow them to do the task.
Invest your time and build a relationship with your team members. Schedule and hold regular meetings and encourage whenever you can.

Training Puppet Team Members

Puppet ministry can be super effective. But it’s not enough to just throw a puppet on your arm and go. Like any art, it’s important to study, practice and strive for excellence. Done poorly, it can just be distracting and counter-productive.

Take the time to train new puppeteers how to sync their puppet’s mouth movements to a song or to words they are saying from a script.

A couple of years ago, I did a gospel magic presentation for a church event. Two young ladies from the hosting church did a puppet skit. They were articulate, easy to hear and did a great job lip-syncing with the puppets. BUT when their puppet was not speaking, it was motionless. They had “dead puppets.”

Teach your puppeteers how the puppet show move and where it should look when it is not speaking. Dead puppets kill a show.

Equipment Required

What equipment do you need to start a puppet ministry?

several puppets
a stage
audio equipment
puppet scripts
music
You will need some money and a financial plan.

You can research where to find your puppets and your other items and just search around. You can look on the Internet and you can just have to investigate all of this. What can you afford?

Think of ideas to raise money. How about your church budget? You could accept gifts and donations or you could have an adopt a puppet plan. The adopt a puppet plan allows people in your congregation to select a puppet and name them.

Unique and fun puppets can be purchased from Possum Woods Puppets HERE, as well as other sites online. Puppetbuildingworld.com has instructions for building your own puppets.

Puppet Scripts can be written by you or you can purchase them online. Our RESOURCE PAGE has a couple of great books with scripts I have written and used for our ministry.

Often you can use the church’s sound system, but if you have a traveling ministry or have your puppet ministry in a room without a sound system, you will need to think about amplification. Also, each speaking puppeteer will need his own microphone. If you pre-record your scripts, you can avoid the expense and technical requirements of multiple microphones.

The Amazing Amp comes with two microphones so two puppeteers can use the system. It is inexpensive and will fill a gymnasium with quality sound. It is the system my wife and I have used for the last 4 years and we love it. It also works with Bluetooth so you can run your prerecorded scripts and music straight from your phone or tablet without wires. You can see the Amazing amp on Amazon by clicking HERE.

The next thing you need is a stage.

You need to figure out what size stage will work best for you. How many puppeteers will be behind the curtain? Will you have one curtain or a second one higher in the back?

If you have the stage you need curtains. Commercial curtains can be very expensive. You can buy large, heavy tablecloths very inexpensively and make really nice curtains.

Want to build your own stage and save money? There is a great article at Puppet Building World.

You can also purchase a portable stage if you will have a traveling ministry. These generally cost $300 to $400 dollars. For our ministry, Possum Woods Puppets uses a PVC pipe stage. It breaks down and sets up quickly. It was donated to us 14 years ago and is still going strong.

If you are looking for an inexpensive, simple puppet stage, I like this ONE

Are your wheels turning yet? I hope they are. Maybe a puppet ministry for your church is starting to take some shape.

Your next step is to name your group.

You want to try to come up with a name that will promote your message. Once you select your name, you can create your own tee shirts or shirts and jackets with your name and your church logo on there. If you use artwork, you can use the clip clip art that’s commercially available, to the public online. Do not just lift artwork off the internet. You will probably be violating copyright.

Puppetry Is Theater

You have to always remember that puppetry is good theater. Which puppets will work best for what you’re doing? Does the music fit in with your theme and does it fit with your audience? What’s your message?

We usually start our program with a peppy little, a song or light and funny material, or even a, a knock, knock joke, some kind of a joke. Then we build-up to the point that you want to make. We usually close with a Bible verse, and a song that will bless the audience. That is especially appreciated at the retirement homes and the nursing homes. Nursing homes love puppet teams because it is so helpful to the people who are in there. It brings them great joy in their heart.

When using music, either make sure it is public domain (non-copyrighted) or you will need to pay BMI/ASCAP. Your pastor can help you handle the legal aspects of music in your church. There are several sites online that sell royalty-free music, especially for puppets.

If you want to start a puppet ministry, we are willing to help any church that would like to start in any way that we can. The big thing is pray about it, pray for God’s guidance and pray for his blessings. Remember, God has given each of us our talents. Why? To use for building his kingdom. And it is such a blessing to be able to share his word and his joy and his promises with all those around us.

Please consider puppetry as a new mission field for your church. Remember, your mission field is all around you.

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