There's certainly a lot of fun in this training.  Participants learn about the magic of puppetry and how to make a puppet "come alive" and are given countless real-life examples of puppets being used successfully with children. 

A puppet package can be included in your training - each puppet, being carefully selected to address specific learning goals.  (You can use your own).  The training goes for 5.5 hours plus breaks. 

But it's not just a day of playing with puppets...

Participants develop an indepth knowledge relating to emotional and social development and the challenges that some children face. They learn how to promote the skills, behaviours  and knowledge that underpin emotional regulation and healthy social interactions. We cover emotional trauma, language issues, neurodivergence and much more. The knowledge gained on the day can easily be applied to other sessional activities such as book sharing and pretend play. ​

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​The presenter: 

Lucia Smith is a speech pathologist with 30 years of experience working with children across a range of settings. She has always taken loved incorporating the magic of puppets in her work and has enjoyed sharing this knowledge in her workshops and conference presentations. 

Lucia is the creator of many popular resources used in early childhood and school settings, including "Social Sam" and "Social Puppets." (You receive these as part of the training). 

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Throughout the training, participants: 

• Learn how to use hand puppets in a way that is engaging to children (“making a puppet come alive”)

• Explore the three types of puppet use applicable to the early childhood setting

• Explore theories of emotional intelligence and its development

• Enhance your current emotional awareness programming, source authentic resources for sessions

• Learn about neurodiversity and neurodiversity-affirming practice

• Learn how to model emotions using a puppet in order to promote a rich emotional vocabulary

• Learn how to demonstrate emotional regulation using a puppet

• Explore the Social Puppets program and discuss how implement it within a centre (this is received free with the training)

• Learn about how to use the Social Sam program (this program is provided free along with the training)

• Explore current theories of social development and the levels of social understanding necessary for developing successful peer relationships

• Learn about why children vary in their social and emotional capabilities

• Learn about Theory of Mind, deficits in Theory of Mind, and how to promote it using a puppet

• Learn how to set up play-based learning with puppets to further reinforce social and emotional learning

• Learn how to use a calming puppet

• Learn the Tommy Turtle calming strategy (for regulating anger, frustration, etc)

• Learn how to adapt the above learning to other modes of play and book-sharing

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