What types of puppets are there?
EDIT: I don’t know what it is but a certain percentage of you readers don’t get this. The below list is just that, a list. If you would like to learn more (ie. read a description of that type of puppet, find links to other articles about them, lists of free patterns, tutorials, etc.), then click on the corresponding link to read more. SERIOUSLY, THERE’S MORE INFORMATION IF YOU’D JUST CLICK THE LINKS BELOW. For those puppet types that have no links, I have yet to write a description of them and will do so in the future.
I realised I don’t actually have a comprehensive list of the types of puppets, so here goes (it should be mentioned that many puppet designs can fit in one or more categories, that the categories below are not definitive, and that indeed there are designs out there that are so unique as to not fit any category. Numbering the types of puppets is therefore useless)… :
Find out what kinds of puppets are used in Australia here. And which are the easiest to make is discussed here. What is the best is discussed here.
- Animatronics (robotic puppets)
- Blacklight puppets (UV, puppeteers invisible).
- Bunraku (Japanese rod puppets)
- Caricature or portrait puppets (puppets made to look like real/famous people or yourselves/friends/family)
- Costume puppets (puppets you wear)
- Finger puppets
- Found puppets (also known as object manipulation or object theatre)
- Glove puppets (aka hand puppets)
- Javanese Wayang Golek (wooden rod puppets)
- Javanese Wayang Kulit (shadow puppets)
- Light curtain staging (puppets seen, puppeteers ‘invisible’ )
- Marionettes (string puppets)
- Marottes (a type of rod puppet)
- Mouth puppets (puppets that talk)
- Muppet-types (a version of mouth puppets).
- Parade puppets (puppets used in parades or outdoors)
- People puppets
- Rod puppets
- Shadow puppets.
- Shoulder puppets
- Sock puppets
- Table-top puppetry (a version of rod puppets/bastardised bunraku)
- Toy theatre
- White light theatre (puppeteers visible)
- Ventriloquist puppets/ventriloquism
- Vietnamese water puppetry
Have I missed one? Leave me a comment and let me know!
…This post AKA main forms of puppetry
Want more? Help build a puppet!