This blog post is dedicated to my good friend and fellow kids pastor Jonathan Cliff who in addition to being a standup guy and a great kids pastor is deathly afraid of puppets (His wife is to guess it runs in the family).
I must admit I am not the biggest fan of puppets in kids ministry not because I am a puppet hater but more because I am an excellence lover. To often we relegate puppet ministry to throwing a script and a sock at a 12 year old and tell them they are on in 5.
I do have bad news for you Jonathan as a trend senser, puppets are coming back.
Enjoy this video, I did.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXSovfzyx28&feature=related
Yeah…I think if we did that in Kids’ Church then puppets would still be cool.
Great video. Thanks for sharing. It reminded me of a guy that was on my team about 6 years ago that was AMAZING at puppets. Our whole set was built just for that and he did an awesome job!
I think there are a lot of “old school” methods that this generation of CP’s are not using that when done properly are really good stuff. We seem to have let all that go away and rely soley on technology to make our point. I wonder if there could be a better balance between the two.
I remember a couple of years ago at a camp, the speaker did ventriliquism, illusions and chalk drawings and the kids were glued to their seats mesmerized. Maybe we should look into these things?
What are your thoughts Sam?
Spencer,
I agree. Very cool if we could do puppets like that. The kids and adult workers would go nuts. Let me ask you a question. Can we do puppets like that?
Matt,
I agree, I think our generation was ruined by Jim Hensen. If you look on TV now everything is CG animation. I think there is a coming trend of puppets and some oldschool methods that people like you and I grew up on and would love our kids to experience for the first time. As I said before I am not a hater of anything well maybe flannel boards but anyway…..I am all for anything that can be done well. Kids are not as picky and have as many hang-ups about stuff like us. They respond to excellence. Thanks for leaving a comment.
sam
Any puppet show that features Coldplay is allright by me!
What you might NOT know about me, is that I was quite the professional puppeteer early in on my life…but times change. I know it can be done great, but much more often than not; doing puppets are things churches do because they don’t know how do do better things. Not always, but even the best puppet people would agree that most of the time that is the case.
And I’ve watched this Coldplay video over and over, and I always laugh at the blank stare coming from the audience. Reminds me of the last time I preached to teenagers…
Jonathan,
Good stuff totally agree. LOL those blank stares are great. I like blank stares it means I am saying or doing something right most of the time.
BTW I can’t stop watching this video. I LOVE it.
We do puppets like this at Gateway, but it’s more Britney Spears/Backstreet Boys feel… so not as cool. 🙂