Welcome to www.puppetlady.co.uk
info@puppetlady.co.uk
Who is the Puppet Lady?
The Puppet Lady is Amy Nicholson, a creative practitioner with many years experience
in leading creative projects in professional, education and community settings. Amy
trained at The Nottingham Trent University in Theatre Design and went on to establish a
diverse career in the field.
Amy has an up to date CRB check and public liability insurance.
Puppet Lady Workshops
Puppet Lady workshops provide a fun and engaging experience for people of all ages to
explore and create their own exciting characters while gaining craft skills and team
working abilities.
My unique hand puppets are simple to make using basic materials and little or no sewing.
This enables people of any ability to produce very effective puppets that are fun and easy
to manipulate.
Workshops often explore a theme or use a story as a basis for the puppet design, which
can be tailored to your individual needs.
Although puppet making is the emphasis of these workshops most projects culminate in a
performance or sharing event. There are also ongoing music and movement activities,
which can intersperse with the making process creating a multi-disciplinary experience
for all involved.
Workshops can be tailored to cover aspects of KS2/ KS3 curriculum or just for fun.
Example of past projects
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Serlby Park Juniors – Year 3 Puppet project. This project has run yearly since
2005. A 5-6 week project working with 2-3 classes 1 day per week. The pupils
explore a variety of different puppets including shadow, hand, rod, marionette and
finger puppets. Activities include design, construction, performance, story telling
and song. Using a story about underwater creatures called Kelpies as the basis.

Toot Hill School – summer school 2005
4 days of activities working with 2 groups of 25 young people aged between 8-15.
Each participant designed and constructed their own puppet and the course
culminated in a performance to parents.

Youth Action, 2007. A weekly Youth project for 11-15 year olds. 6 weeks were
dedicated to the puppet project which culminating in a performance to parents.

St Giles Special School, Derby. ‘ Telling Tales’ A Creative Partnership project.
A 2-term project working with different classes using puppets, song and creative
space to explore literacy books.

Playing for success at The Tennis Centre Nottingham, 2006. Five 1 hour sessions
on the theme of Olympic Mascots followed by a 2 day summer school programme
using the theme of ‘Harry Potter’

The Beat, St Giles School, Retford, 2008. A programme for young people to
support the transition between primary and secondary education. A 6 week
puppet project looking at character and identity. The young people took part in
drama games and exercises, designed and constructed puppets and scenery and
performed their own scripts to an audience which was filmed.
Prices and Workshop Options
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2 hour Shadow puppet workshop from £100
1 day hand puppet workshop from £250 (Suitable for one group*)
2 day hand puppet workshop from £400 (Suitable for 2-3 groups*)
Puppet exploration project, including stories, song, hand puppet and shadow
puppet construction and performance. 5-6 weekly sessions of approx 2hours,
suitable for up to 3 groups* per day. From £500
Individually tailored projects to meet curriculum targets or themes will incur some
additional costs to plan in collaboration with teaching staff.
Costs include the majority of materials and resources required, although venue hosts
will be expected to provide basic equipment such as pencils, scissors, paper,
colouring pens and table covers/newspaper.
Many of the materials used can be sourced ecologically using recycled objects from
home or scrap stores. With support from the host venue and the young people this
can become a focus and priority of the project.
These puppet workshops are most suited for young people aged 7-14 but other
options for younger or older children can be negotiated. It is also possible to book
adult workshops or Inset days to engage in a fun team building experience or to learn
how to make my unique hand puppets for yourself. Resource packs available in
conjunction with most adult workshops.
*Groups should be of around 10-30 people and include at least one adult staff
member who is familiar with the class/group. Additional teaching assistants are
extremely useful with any group but will be required for younger or less able young
people.