Puppet Education Program
Puppet Education in the Park
At Fairyland, learning is a delightful adventure for young minds.
Get ready for new puppet experiences at Children's Fairyland! Drawing from our almost 75-year-long history in puppetry, we’re thrilled to announce a dynamic puppet education program designed to debut in our park before making its way into early childhood classrooms and learning centers, sparking a love for hands-on learning, puppet play, and storytelling.
Thanks to the generous support of the PNC Foundation for making this program possible.
Hands-on Puppet Playdates (Resuming in April 2025)
Explore the world of puppetry beyond our traditional puppet show setting and immerse your kiddo in the story of the season. After the curtains close on Thursday's 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. puppet shows, join Jacqui June, our Puppet Education Specialist, for a small-group Puppet Playdate! It's a chance for kids to get hands-on with puppetry and use their imaginations to create their own puppet stories!
Fairyland Puppet Players Field Trip
Fairyland Puppet Players for Preschools is a storytelling workshop focusing on social-emotional learning through puppet engagement. The program teaches tools for emotional regulation and invites children to work through everyday conflicts together as they help puppet protagonists Jax and Bo navigate their “big feelings”. Children and chaperones will get to use hand puppets and props to join the storytelling through dramatic play, making our latest program an interactive, imaginative, unique enrichment experience.
Learn more about the Puppet Players Field Trip program.
Read the Press Release!
Children's Fairyland Announces New Puppet Education Program for Young Children in Oakland with Support from the PNC Foundation
Building on a 68-year-long history in puppetry and commitment to inclusive learning opportunities, Children's Fairyland begins developing a dynamic puppet education program for young children ages two to five in Oakland with generous support from the PNC Foundation.
Oakland, CA (April 17, 2024) – Children's Fairyland, Oakland’s iconic storybook theme park and pioneer in puppetry, announces a new partnership with the PNC Foundation to bring puppet education into early childhood learning spaces in the Bay Area. With PNC’s generous support, Fairyland is developing an interactive in-park puppet program that invites children to participate, engage and play with puppet characters while immersing themselves in stories. This program lays the groundwork for implementing a puppet education program in Oakland schools and early learning centers serving children ages two to five. This partnership represents a visionary step outlined in Children's Fairyland's 2022-2025 Strategic Plan to extend the magic of puppetry and its educational benefits beyond the park’s borders and into the heart of Oakland’s communities.