Folkmanis Puppets: The Best Educational Toys

We have always loved Folkmanis puppets. I'm convinced Folkmanis makes the best stage puppets, the best animal puppets, the best finger puppets, in the world. They use really interesting fabrics, very realistic designs, and somehow their puppets work as stuffed animals as well as puppets. All six of the puppets that live in our house are engaged regularly as denizens of the children's imaginary world. They are never relegated to puppet shows or ventriloquism.

You may remember that last year Folkmanis sent us a big box of puppets to give away at the G.U.E.S.S. Homeschool Science Fair. This year they did the same. My children gleefully watched while I unpacked the box, delighted over all the new puppets -- the woolly mammoth, the eagle, the iguana. There was even a nest of little birds you could animate with your hand. I felt very conflicted about letting my own children win these puppets, though! I knew that it wouldn't be fair for my own kids to win the most coveted prizes at the fair that I helped to organize. So, I told the children they could go to the Folkmanis web site and pick out whichever puppet they wanted for themselves, then at the fair the puppets in the box would go to other kids and they had to agree not to be sad. Sad? They were DELIGHTED. So, here are the puppets they "won":

Sadie chose the Chihuahua puppet.

Benny chose the dragon shoulder puppet. It has a stick that goes down behind your back through your shirt, so you can operate it surreptitiously with one hand while it appears to work on its own. VERY COOL! He had no problem figuring out how to work it immediately.

The GUESS Homeschool Science Fair is so grateful to Folkmanis for their continued support of our event. The youngest scientists were very very happy to take home fluffy friends. And parents everywhere are grateful to Folkmanis for making such delightful toys. The best educational toys are open-ended, lending themselves to many uses, letting the child's imagination take over. Among the best in this category, I'd count Legos, paper and pencil, and puppets. And when it comes to animal puppets, Folkmanis truly is in a category all by itself.

Folkmanis Puppets: The Best Puppets on Earth

It started years ago in South Carolina. Every time we'd visit the sleepy little coastal town of McClellanville we'd go to this little gift shop that had them most amazing puppets. Shockingly good puppets. The first one we saw was a grey tabby cat that was posed as if it were a real cat sitting in the window. We left with that puppet and also a black and white rat for it to chase. The next year we got the jack rabbit puppet and the llama puppet. The llama pupppet has always been my favorite. Just look at its tassels:

One day Sadie had set up a little tea party for her Folkmanis puppets and was happily, charmingly playing away with her llama and rabbit, etc. I took some pictures and sent them in to the company, with a thank you for making such a nice product. This led to an email conversation over the course of a couple of years with Folkmanis, and when I asked them to sponsor our homeschool science fair, they sent us a big box of puppets. HOW WONDERFUL. I was completely enchanted. Here are the prizes we were able to give, thanks to their generosity:

The Owl Prize for Nocturnal Studies
The Little Pink Noses Award
The Louis Pasteur Prize for Kindness to Sheep
The Flying Squirrel Award for Unusual Thinking
The Red Fox Honor for Colorful Work
The Grey Squirrel Award for Tireless Data Collection

You get the idea. The children were THRILLED with their puppets. Check out how they looked on the prize table:

Awesome, right!? Sadie won the Little Pink Noses Award. Alright, the kind lady at Folkmanis, who first responded to my tea party pictures, had sent the angora rabbit puppet specifically for her! So that was a bit of a foregone conclusion, but she loves her puppet:





Folkmanis Puppets have by far the best animal puppets I have ever seen. They also have character puppets beyond compare. So unusual, so interesting, such an incredible variety, such rich imaginative potential in each one. Big thanks to Folkmanis for sponsoring our fair, and making our youngest scientists so very happy to be involved!

Me, Benny, Confetti, Sadie, and Folkmanis Puppets

Me

I am completely creeped out by the lady on the JC Penney ad who says, "Everything in my head, in your hands." It just presents an awful image. A gooey image.

Benny

Benny: Mom, what is confetti?
Me: Oh, you know, it's little torn up paper and stuff.
Benny: Yes, I know, but what is confetti for?
Me: It's for, well, it falls out of the ceiling. Or gets shot out of cannons. It makes things more festive. When something exciting happens.
Benny: Why does it fall out of ceilings?
(Pause. Why *does* it fall out of ceilings?)
Me: I think we better ask Dad what confetti is for. Maybe he has a good answer about that.
(At this point, I'm completely aghast that I have fallen back on Dad already, on a confetti question. I didn't even make it through eight years.)
Benny: I think I might have a good answer.
Me: Oh? What's that?
Benny: People like to catch things. Maybe it's exciting for people to try and catch confetti?
(And this seems like as plausible an answer as any, right?)
Me: That must be it.

Sadie

Every year when we go down to South Carolina we visit a little town called McClellansville. In this little fishing village is an awesome screen-door-bangin' type of seafood restaurant that we like, and also a little cute store that has awesome, puppets by Folkmanis. Over the years we have collected several -- they are all beloved by my children. They love them as puppets but also as favorite stuffed animals.

Folkmanis puppets are the best puppets I have ever seen -- they move in very natural, realistic ways, and they just look -- real. Even the llama. They are magical and delightful. Good detail, sturdy, and each one comes with a little story on the tag. We have the rat, the cat, the jack rabbit, and of course the llama. Here is a picture of Sadie playing tea party with these puppets. I had to take about forty pictures of this charming little scene, but here is just one:



Okay, just one more, to show the puppets a little better: