Project 5: Storytime with Puppets – Class 7 Vocational Education Chapter 5 Notes & NCERT PDF

About the Project

Storytime with Puppets is Project 5 in Kaushal Bodh Grade 7, under Part 3: Work in Human Services — work that is about serving people and interacting with them. In this project you write a script, make puppets and put up a puppet show with backdrops, props, sound and light.

Puppets are human or animal figures that can be moved by the puppeteer. Puppetry is the art of moving puppets by hand, rods or strings to narrate a story.

So a clockwork doll is not a puppet (it moves by itself), but a simple sock with eyes, nose and mouth stitched on it is a puppet if a puppeteer moves it.

India's storytelling traditions

Why puppetry is special

Did you know? Between 2012 and 2014, archaeologists excavating a Sindhu–Sarasvati site at Karanpura, Rajasthan (along the river Chautang) found a puppet-headed bull. Its head is missing, but its shape fits a detachable head, and two shallow grooves could carry a string to make the head move.

What You Will Learn

Materials & Tools

Step-by-Step Activities

Activity 1 – What makes stories work?

Recall a story you loved hearing. Who told it, how (voice changes, props, actions, expressions) and what you liked. The most important thing is holding the listeners' attention.

Activity 2 – Watching a puppet show

Watch a live show (or invite a puppeteer, or search online for "puppet show + language"). Observe the puppet's mechanism, how the puppeteer holds and moves it, where he/she looks, and voice modulation, plus stage, backdrop, sound and light.

Activity 3 – Selecting/writing a story

Take ideas from the library, other subjects, your grandparents' stories or social issues (Swachh Bharat, polio vaccination, rights and responsibilities of citizens). The story must be short and simple, with some drama or action. Fill Table 5.1: what the story is about, title, characters, setting (and whether it changes), plot (sequence of main events) and central message.

Activity 4 – Writing a script

A script has the step-by-step flow of scenes, dialogues and emotions of the characters, plus the position and movement of puppets, songs, and light and sound effects.

Choose a story with at least 2–3 characters. The book's model script is "Gopal and the Hilsa Fish": a king tired of people talking about the Hilsa fish challenges his courtier Gopal to bring a huge Hilsa to the palace without anyone talking about it. Gopal shaves half his beard and smears ash on himself — people are so surprised by his looks that nobody mentions the fish. The script lists each line with its style (complaining, patiently, angrily, bowing low), props (a cardboard throne painted gold) and special effects (hand striking wood, a toy trumpet). Props are objects other than puppets that show the setting or can be moved (throne, fish, sword, newspaper).

Activity 5 – Character sketch

Decide each puppet's characteristics — tall or short, cheerful or grumpy, shy or outgoing — because they decide its face, expression, voice and mannerisms. Puppets need not look realistic; elongated bodies and arms are common. Tip: to enlarge a drawing (e.g., a rabbit), trace it onto graph paper, draw a proportionately larger grid on chart paper and copy square by square.

Activity 6 – Making puppets

Eight kinds shown in the book:

Face colours need not match real skin — puppets are imaginary. For the body, cut and stitch old fabric into a long dress covering the rod, and attach cardboard hands to the sleeves. Movement comes from strings at the neck or hands, a stick to make it fly, or wearing it over your hand; make extra puppets for different expressions or positions. Record everything in Table 5.4.

Activity 7 – Puppet show elements

Activity 8 – Putting up the show

Use the pre-show checklist (Table 5.5) — script, puppets, costumes, movement, sequence, stage, props, sound/light, rehearsal, and who introduces the show and the cast. Perform at the Kaushal Mela, bow, introduce the cast (Table 5.6), acknowledge the author and helpers, and collect audience feedback.

Safety First

Key Terms

Think and Answer – Hints

Career & Community Connections

Puppeteers, storytellers, script writers, voice artists, set and costume designers, and light and sound technicians all use these skills. Communities use puppet shows for awareness on health, cleanliness and social issues.

Common Mistakes