Starting conversations with a little magic

There is an almost magical quality that comes with making and using puppets said Shelley King.

“I kid you not when I say that you never know what is going to come out of a puppet’s mouth,” said the creator of Artful Connections. “My puppets often surprise me. They are on my hands, but the puppet might blurt out the craziest thing that I would have never even thought of.”

Trained as a social worker, King holds workshops at long-term care homes in the Peterborough area that sees participants — both staff and residents — make and use puppets as a way to engage in conversations, build relationship, share memories and solve problems.

“People are far less self-conscious about what they talk about and what they share when they are doing it through a puppet” she said. “Other forms of art do not do that. Puppets, because they are animated, offer opportunities. One puppet might talk to another puppet, or that puppet might talk to you.”

King, who started using puppets in her work around 15 years ago, shows long-term care staff members the steps in how to make puppets, either on their own or alongside residents, and then use those puppets to start conversations that might not otherwise take place.

“It eliminates some of those barriers that make conversations awkward because you are focused on something that is safe,” she said. “When the staff has an opportunity to sit down with one individual, puppets are a great way to learn more about them, to pull out stories or to make up stories, to share moments of joy.

“Puppets are valuable in that they can break the ice. You can have a puppet that comes in with a joke of the day. So, rather than a personal support worker rushing into a room and saying, ‘You have an appointment in 15 minutes, you aren’t dressed yet? You need to hurry?’ You can start that exchange with, ‘Oh hey, do you want to hear my joke of the day?’ So, you are putting everybody in a better frame of mind and can work more productively because they aren’t being defensive or rushed.”

Among the places where King holds her workshops around Peterborough is the municipally owned Fairhaven long-term care home. There, King led an intergenerational workshop during the pandemic where she would show the residents, some of whom have dementia, pictures and had them create stories about the people in them. She then took those stories to Edmison Heights Public School, where the students created puppets, built background sets and acted out the stories virtually for the residents.

“It was really cool,” said Emily Collins, the volunteer resources coordinator at Fairhaven. “Even our staff learned so much about reaching our residents this way. The fact they could look at a picture and build a story around it, we found out things that we didn’t know about our residents. They would tell stories about themselves, so we learned a lot. They were able to bring out their sense of humour. They brought their childhood and their life with their kids to these stories.

“Every day is different when you have dementia or Alzheimer’s. One day they might tell you all about their life and the next they might forget that they have, say, five children,” said Collins. “This brought people out of their shells, and we saw things in them that we do not see every day.”

When the project was done, the visiting families of the residents were able to see the puppets and the backgrounds. Each had a QR code that could be scanned to bring up a video of the puppets performing the different stories.

Collins said for Fairhaven’s staff and volunteers the experience was also beneficial. She said it showed them how important intergenerational experiences could be beneficial for their residents, who, living in a long-term care home, do not always get to interact with children or people younger than themselves.

King, who also holds workshops with schools, libraries and youth organizations, said that is part of the magic of puppets. What they can do, because they are so interactive, is different from any other tools you can use, whether as a social worker, caregiver, teacher or parent.

“The real magic happens when that puppet is made, and it takes on a life of its own. You now have this other character in the room with you that has its own ideas about what it wants to say and how it wants to interact, and it becomes playful. And, of course, play is an amazing thing when you are building relationships.”