Hungry caterpillars and stuffy noses

Mermaid Theatre from Nova Scotia who brought Anita Jeram's children's stories brilliantly to life last year will be giving the same treatment to Eric Carle's classics The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Little Cloud and Mixed-up Chameleon. 15 - 23 Nov.

There's also another show A-tishoo! about a girl with a cold who goes on a magical journey. 30 Oct - 9 Nov.

Early bird bookings for both shows end Monday, September 15. For ages 3-6.

Puppetmaking and storytelling workshops, Celebrate Drama: 12 Aug

The Celebrate Drama festival is hosting puppet making and story-telling workshops for primary school kids, 4 years and above. $10 per participant at The Arts House. 2.00pm - 4.00pm & 4.15pm - 6.15pm. That's a lot of value per hour.

The festival also has loads of good stuff for older kids.

The Boy Who Touched the Moon: 30 - 31 August

Act 3 Theatrics is back with their next show for the Esplanade Playtime series, featuring puppetry and shadow play for ages 2 - 4.

Puppet show: 2 Jun, Tanglin Mall

The next edition of the free puppet show by ToyBox at Tanglin Mall Level 2, organised by The Better Toy Store at 2pm & 4pm. We're big fans and try not to miss their shows. There's lots of sing-alongs and storytelling using Folkmanis puppets. Email edwinmartan AT thebettertoystore DOT com to register.

Stories to Grow - review

We went to watch Stories to Grow at Act 3 this morning. Turned out to be everything I expected and much more - and importantly, LO enjoyed it hugely too. No wonder the theatrette was packed. Simple stories told with a lot of love in a very ingenious way using puppets made with lots of love. The lighting and music helped set the pace and mood, which is really important for a non-verbal piece, and the performers - one of whom had the same tragicomic face as Roberto Benigni of Life is Beautiful fame - were stalwarts.

I'm glad that I took LO to it even if the show said it was for over 4s. There was one story with an environmental message - about cutting a tree - which LO talked about the whole day. There are two more shows tomorrow - Sunday, May 25.

Now if they can only get those plastic child booster seats that SRT has. With the slippery foam ones at Act 3, most kids ended up on their parents' laps.

Out of the Box puppet theatre fest - 12 - 16 May

The Out of the Box puppet festival returns. Homegrown outfit Mascots & Puppets whose puppets for the 2006 show of The Little Shop of Horrors by Dream Academy was nominated for an award, contributes The Story of Bukit Merah and The Legend of The Moon.