As a child I was never at a loss for something to do. I had a great imagination (I still do!). I could turn a hollowed out pricker bush into a fort, or go on an adventure with my cousin. My cousin Cindy and I used to take all of my Fisher Price Little People sets and turn my playroom into Disney World. We used to play all day and all night – literally. Building blocks, crayons, sticks, rocks… it didn’t matter. I could have fun with just about anything.
Sadly I don’t think many kids these days use their abilities to be creative and utilize their imaginations to their fullest potential. Why bother trying to figure out something fun to do with some sticks and string when you could just turn on the Xbox and blow the heads of zombies. For the record if I had sticks and string I would have made a dream catcher. 🙂
Many toys that are available do not encourge children to be just that – CHILDREN. Instead many toys (especially computer and TV games) turn kinds into living zombies, making their minds turn to mush.
As a young girl I’ve always enjoyed puppets and finger puppets. I used to make my own out of scraps of fabric and old socks. Even my great-grandmother crocheted a dog hand puppet for me (which I still have). Having a few puppets around gave me a lot of ideas on fun things to do. I would act out books that I’ve read or movies that I’ve seen, or create my own stories and characters. My dog puppet, for example, could speak French one day, and only bark like a dog the next day. The beauty of puppets is that they can be anything you want them to be. You can even turn inanimate objects into puppets if you so desired.
Puppet Heap, a company celebrated for their unique character puppet designs, has launched a retail line of some of their popular puppet designs called Puppet Heap Playthings. The company’s premiere line will include an assortment of hand puppets based on characters from two of their short film productions, Mother Hubbard and I Knew an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly. These are two of my favorite tales too! I could go on and on with the Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly. I could jokingly say she swallowed a bus, or a house, or a tree… totally random silly things like that.
Founded by artist and designer Paul Andrejco, Puppet Heap is an innovative design studio, based in Hoboken, New Jersey. The company has a rich history of bringing dynamic characters to life for some of the biggest names in film, television and theatre.Â
“We’re very excited about the launch of Puppet Heap Playthings,” said Paul Andrejco, “Putting the magic of Puppet Heap’s creative team into the hands of a wider consumer audience is what this new branch of the company is all about.”
We have one of the Puppet Heap Playthings puppets. We have Toby, the dog from Old Mother Hubbard. Although my husband will argue that he looks more like a rat. LOL!
My kids, who are ages 12 and 14, get such a kick out of playing with the puppet. In fact I have rather enjoyed watching them play with him (and on occasion fight over him). My son even tried pretending he was a ventriloquist. I thought that was rather creative of him.
I tried taking pictures of him and they didn’t turn out so well. They really didn’t show up just how cute he is.
Toby fits perfectly on all our hands, even small hands like mine. His mouth is very easy to open and close.
He is A LOT cuter in person. I just couldn’t take a good photo of him. He sort of reminds me of Tutter Mouse from the Disney show Bear in a Big Blue House, except Toby is a dog and he’s brown (Tutter was blue). He’s about the same size as Tutter Mouse too.
The part inside the puppet that controls the mouth is covered in a nice material. It’s not just a plain piece of plastic.
His tongue is painted in a way that it gives it some texture and makes it look realistic.
Toby even comes with a bone. Our dog got a hold of Toby’s bone so ours is a bit dirty at the moment. By the way… dogs and cats find the puppet amusing too. They can’t figure out what it is (alive or a toy). It’s funny to watch them interact with the puppet.
There are other puppets available from Puppet Heap Playthings including the following…
 The Butcher (pictured above) scares me. He’s pretty gruesome. LOL!
The Muppet Movie comes out in November (11-23-11). I have a feeling puppets are going to be very popular with children thanks to the movie and things like Puppet Heap. Now would be a great time to introduce your child or grandchild to the wonderful world of puppets.
With the holidays coming I think Puppet Heap Playthings puppets would make a fantastic gift.
Puppet Heap Playthings are available for purchase on Amazon.com and other retail locations. They sell for around $19.99 each.
You can also check out Puppet Heap on Facebook (www.Facebook.com/PuppetHeap) and on Twitter (www.Twitter.com/PuppetHeap).
Kimberly
*I received a free product sample in order to do this review. There was no compensation. The opinions expressed are my own.
thisenvy says
Well the animals are cute LOL Some puppets are just seriously creepy. I don’t know what it is about them.