Puppet Circus Parade

A well-produced interactive how-to, Puppet Circus Parade opens with a short vignette featuringMeuninck’s Media Methods puppet Polly Doodle, who is too ill to attend the circus, so her human friend brings the circus to Polly…helping her to recreate the entire cast--people and animals--as puppets. The 20 puppets featured here include very simple finger puppets (made by drawing a face on an index finger, and then using bits of cloth to make clothing and hats), fist puppets, hand puppets, paper bag puppets, marionettes, mouth puppets (such as the sack snake and sock tiger), rod puppets (such as elephants and horses, with moving legs), and more. Many of the puppets require external art, such as a lion's mane or elephant ears, and for those who are artistically-inclined, the program includes instruction on how to draw and color the items (an accompanying CD-ROM also contains the artwork in full color in easy-to-print Adobe Acrobat files). The DVD version includes both English and Spanish language options, while the VHS version is available in English or Spanish separately. Sure to be a popular hobby program for kids, this is highly recommended. Aud: E, I, P. (C. Block)