Hey Everyone! Sorry that I'm getting this post out so late this weekend. What a crazy week I've had! :D
I was thinking about what to discuss that may be beneficial to you all, and I came across some older videos that we've had for some time.
Within our Children's Ministry, we have a puppet team called Everlasting Arms. Our team really enjoys doing other creative things besides puppetry to make our ministry more attractive and to bring more variety to our services, crusades, and performances. These ideas are quite common, so nothing earth shattering here! But I feel that sometimes we think we have to know everything about something, before we venture into new territory. Because of this, I want to share a few videos that we took of different rehearsals and performances. That way you can see that anyone can do this! We just got started and began to learn as we went.
>>>NOTE: The videos are either just from a phone for practice purposes, or even horrid video quality from many years ago! LOL So, please ignore that part of this blog, and just take it as ideas to get you thinking. <<<
First, let's talk about STICKS...also known as Dowel Rods.
Yep...just simple, 1/2" - 3/4" dowel rods that are 30" - 36" long. You can make them yourself. We did purchase special blacklight, white paint, since most white paint doesn't glow. You could also make a white fabric sleeve to cover them. Very simple!!!
Here is a video of a practice....mind you...it is a REHEARSAL! Our team improved a lot before performing this number. But this will give you an idea of how it works....
Next, is a short clip (taken on my phone during dress rehearsal), so you can see it in blacklight. This was taken in our large sanctuary, from all the way in the back, so the visual isn't the best. But I wanted you to see how it looks when everyone is dressed in full black, with white gloves, and white rods. :D
Dowel Rods are almost like "signing" with rods instead of hands. If you know the sign language word, you can figure a way to use rods to get that word across. Once you get started, the motions will just kinda fall into place.
I always assign one person that is very good at dowel rods to be the leader. The rest will follow her/him so that they can stay together.
We also enjoying adding hand signing to our puppet songs, dowel rod songs, or even just signing on it's own. Again, we will use white gloves and blacklights. If you don't know any sign language, you can find lots of things online. I look up specific words, and either figure it out myself, or we do a mixture of signing and hand motions. Just remember, if you aren't only performing for the hearing impaired, it's not important that all the signs are perfect.
We love to use blacklights for our puppetry. And with that you have an entire new world available called Bunraku. This is where a full-bodies puppet is (usually) operated by more than one puppeteer.
In the following video, our puppet team was practicing in our Junior Sanctuary. All the decor that is glowing, is NOT part of the song. LOL But I wanted you to be able to see our 6" puppet called Neon Leon. I had made him about 18 years ago or so, so he is in major need of updating! :-P But he is fun nonetheless. (Please excuse my "hollering" at one of the boys at the start of the video. Again, this is a practice night.)
Lastly, I want to share a video of a children's musical that we did with puppets back in 2011. This recording quality is very bad, and the sound was not through the system, so you will hear people talking, etc. But it's a fun example of what can be done with puppetry if you put a lot of time and effort into it.
I took a children's musical recording, and used Audacity (a free software) to cut and paste the sections together. That way, we could condense the musical somewhat.
Please Enjoy "Mayhem in Bethlehem"!
Well, that's it for this blog post. There are so many other things I'd love to tell you about, but unfortunately, I'm out of time...AND I don't have any more videos! I really need to start recording our stuff! LOL
If you have any questions about puppetry or creative ministries in general, please contact me through email or just respond to this blog.
Have a wonderful Sunday! :D
Sara Vojtasek & Joel's Vision Ministries
BONUS: This morning, February 21st, my daughter had our 11 year olds do blacklight puppetry in Children's Church. These puppets are operated by 2 people. Here is a short clip of what they did. Now keep in mind, these are 11 year olds that only had about 10 min to practice. LOL
I have considered doing a class on how to make these....the ones shown are 3 that I made for our use. Anyone interested in a class? Let me know! :D