Kids talking openly to puppets

[WishYouACrappyChristmas]

Dh has been messing about and he's drawn a face on his hand thumb as the mouth - you know what I mean don't you? Anyway DS1 seems able to talk quite openly to the 'puppet' more than he does to us, just wondered if anyone has had any experience of using hand puppets to get kids to talk about their probs. I have heard of this before. What do you lot think?

It's like an imaginary friend, I really wouldn't woory about it. I think it's kind of sweet

HTH

I have two 5 year olds that i teach english to, they are both much more willing to 'reproduce' the language we've been learning recently when they have finger puppets or cuddly toys to do the 'speaking'! I guess they feel less self -concious.

Kalex - I'm not worried. I was just wondering if it'd be fun to get a puppet to 'play' with to encourage him to open up when he's feeling sad. What do you think?

Yup...ds had a lion puppet that we used to use to ask him about his day at playgroup...(otherwise it was like getting blood out of a stone). It worked brilliantly...and it was sweet too. He absolutely cringes if we so much as mention it now though

thanks trout, think we'll try it too.

Ds will tell his baby doll why he's upset when he is too cross / sad to speak to me. I let the doll give him some advice too ("don't worry, your Mama's just going to change your nappy quickly, then she'll let you go and play again,") although this feels a bit manipulative!

Henry always chatters away to his toys.

Used a great deal by speech and language therapists for reasons given.

sounds like a good thing to try for ds then. now where can i get a puppet......