The influence of a puppet on the emotional and social development of preschool children

One of the important jobs of a preschool teacher is taking care of proper emotional development of children. A sensitive teacher recognizes the children's emotions, relates to their distress and provides a safe place for them with words of encouragement and kindness. In the theoretical part, I define the meaning of emotions, children’s play and puppets. In their early childhood, children’s emotions are inconsistent and change rather quickly. The type of emotion and its expression depends greatly on the children’s environment and on the way they are being treated. Adults need to develop and promote nice, pleasing and appropriate emotions, such as contentment, joy, love, trust and safety. On that basis, new and nobler social emotions gradually evolve (e.g. goodness, optimism, kindness). At the same time, the causes for the increase of unpleasant and inappropriate emotions (e.g. anger, fear, rage, despair) need to be inhibited and removed. Playing with a puppet helps children overcome, express and understand numerous distresses better. It is known that children have a fear of adults on a certain energy level so a puppet presents an easier way of communication. In the empirical part, I research the role of a puppet in expressing children’s emotions, in integrating children with different cultural background as well as the role of a group favourite in forming interpersonal relationships. I have come to the conclusion that expressing emotions through the puppet is easier for children. They confide in the puppet and talk to it openly. Performing stories with puppets allows the children to enter the world of art and language in a playful and pleasant way and discover the world they live in with different topics. I have realized that a puppet presents a useful tool not only for the children but for the teachers as well as it can prove to be very helpful with their job, too. In their hands, it becomes a magical means for getting close to children and for understanding them better. It helps the children create a genuine contact with the teacher and with the peers. We not only have to show the puppet to the children but also make them play with it. Thus, we enable the children an insight to the workings of the world while offering a safe place for them where they can return to whenever they wish