Hands-on Puppetry at the 4-H Center

Puppets come in all shapes and sizes, as the children who participated in Saturday’s “Puppet Adventures at 4-H” quickly discovered.

The celebration marking the 13th National Day of Puppetry was a joint effort of the Somerset County Pretty Cool 4-H Puppetry Club and the Garden State Puppetry Guild.

This was the fourth year the guild has partnered with , said Betty Sommerville, a guild member and leader of the 4-H Puppetry Club, which has been in existence for about 10 years.

The day started with a series of hands-on workshops for children in kindergarten through fifth grade, who made fish and butterfly puppets from recyclable materials and learned more about manipulation of hand puppets and marionettes.

The afternoon featured a “Puppet Potpourri Extravaganza,” with performances in different puppetry styles by guild and 4-H club members. Emcee Steven Hollow kept the show moving along with the help of a large bird-like puppet who enchanted the audience with his complaints that he thought he was going to “Dancing with the Stars.”

Members of the Chinese Culture Club performed the traditional dragon dance and the Pretty Cool 4-H Puppetry Club presented the story of “Lil Chicken.” Penny Rapicano, who co-chaired the event along with Sommerville, entertained the audience with a variety of talented marionettes, including Twinkles the Clown, an alien and the Dancing Tissue Twins.

The celebration concluded with an “Earth Day Pageant” featuring guild members, 4-Hers, workshop participants and several larger-than-life characters.

Sara Bayait, 7, was among several area Brownie Girl Scouts who participated in the day at the 4-H Center and earned an award.

“I liked it because I got to be in the little parade in the pageant finale,” Bayait said.

Mom Claudia added, “She had a great time. It was a perfect rainy day activity.”

For more information about Somerset County 4-H or the Somerset County Pretty Cool 4-H Puppetry Club, call 908-526-6644 or visit 4HisTops.org.