Puppets

It’s Here!

Posted on September 23, 2019 by Ellie and Edmond ©

It’s Here!

We’re so very excited to share with you that the coloring book our Photographer drew and we helped do the research for is now on sale on Amazon. There are 50 pages of animals and their relatives and even those who may not have any relatives at all. There are some basics on classification, but wow we would need a text book to do that subject justice.

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We hope it inspires you to learn more about animals and their relatives while have fun coloring! Oh and we recommend using colored pencils or crayons in the book so the colors won’t bleed! And as always THANK YOU for your support!

Categories: adventure, Animals, birds, Children, conservation, crafts, education, endangered species, Environment, fish, frogs, mammals, nature, oceans, Puppets, reptiles, science, Today's Post, wildlife | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

BRER RABBIT AND FRIENDS!

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Ellie and Edmond ©

“BRER RABBIT AND FRIENDS”

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            We went to the Center for Puppetry Arts to check out their new show “Brer Rabbit and Friends”. To describe it in one word- FANTASTIC!! This show is a collection of stories that were gathered by local Atlanta writer Joel Chandler Harris. He gathered folk tales from African American slaves in the 1800’s and reproduced them in the Atlanta newspaper and then in books.

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            We love folk tales that use animals to tell stories and the center’s interpretation of these old stories is fresh and fun! There are live performers who play themselves and the four characters; Brer Rabbit, Brer Bear, Brer Fox and Sister Mud Turtle. These great performers also play live music throughout the show.

            The set is a country house in the woods and the performers start out with a great song! The narrator then sits at the piano and takes us through the tales, including one about how smart Sister Mud Turtle is and one about a laughing contest! Brer Rabbit is always outsmarting the mischievous team of Brer Fox and Brer Bear.

Sister Mud Turtle showing how Brer Bear who's smarter.

Sister Mud Turtle showing how Brer Bear who’s smarter.

            We sat in a full house and everyone, parents and kids were laughing and singing. Of course, Edmond cannot resist the good music and he too was tapping his hooves throughout and Ellie was swinging her trunk too. We don’t want to give away too much of the plot because the stories are so funny when you don’t know the plot twists!

Singing!

Singing!

Tapping along to the music!

Tapping along to the music!

           

We always enjoy the shows at the Puppetry Arts center, but “Brer Rabbit and Friends” is probably our most favorite yet! The music was great, the performers outstanding and the stories fun! It is so great to see the passing down of stories that have been told for years and years. We highly encourage you to hop down to the briar patch at the Center for Puppetry Arts and see “Brer Rabbit and Friends”! And if you don’t live in Atlanta, pick up a copy of Joel Chandler Harris’ stories and share them with a kid in your life! For more information on show times and ticket, check out the Center’s website.

You can make your own Brer Bear take home puppet like this one!

You can make your own Brer Bear take home puppet like this one!

 

 

Categories: adventure, Animals, Atlanta, Children, folk tales, Local, Puppets, rabbits, wildlife | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

THE ADVENTURES OF MIGHTY BUG!

Posted on February 9, 2013 by Ellie and Edmond ©

THE ADVENTURES OF MIGHTY BUG!

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We had the most exciting afternoon at The Center for Puppetry Arts the other day! We sat down and were transported to a lovely garden scene! That garden turned out to be the home of Bugville and the super hero Mighty Bug!

This fantastic comic book like world was full of amazing characters, including Mighty Bug, Professor Rhinoceros Beetle and the villain Scorpiana! We meet Mighty Bug in the morning as he wakes up and goes on his morning jog. Along the way we meet all kinds of bugs. Not only do we get to meet centipedes, butterflies and bees we learn something fun about each one! Did you know that ants can lift 50x their weight? That would be like a human lifting an elephant! WOW! We’re pretty sure a human couldn’t lift Ellie!

Back in Professor Rhinoceros Beetle’s lab, Mighty Bug and the professor taught us all about the parts of an insect! Did you know insects’ skeleton is on the outside? Pretty cool! As we follow Mighty Bug on his adventures we learned about the different types of habitats bugs live in!

We also meet Mighty Bug’s girlfriend Morpha Butterfly, who sang a fantastic little tune about a butterflies! Edmond was dancing the whole time! Soon though the tale takes a turn for the worse when the villain Scorpiana enacts her evil plan to take over Bugville with her gang!  Whew, the story gets interesting from there! We won’t spoil the ending for you! This fun and fantastic show is not to be missed! They use shadow puppets and human sized ones! It is full of color, laughter and intrigue! Plus you learn throughout the show! What’s better than learning while you have fun? NOTHING!

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Grab your running shoes and your enthusiasm and make a trip to The Center for Puppetry Arts to see “The Adventures of Mighty Bug”! Check out the center’s website for tickets and times! Don’t forget to make a lightening bug puppet to take home with you when you are there!

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Categories: adventure, Animals, backyard, Children, conservation, nature, Puppets | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Joey the Horse!!

Posted on August 16, 2012 by Ellie and Edmond ©

Joey the Horse!

We had a chance to meet the star of the play “War Horse” and this star is very special! Joey is a horse sized horse puppet who stars in the play about his service during World War I and his young owner who goes on an adventure to bring him home.

Joey and Caption Nichols

Joey and his head puppeteer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Broadway Atlanta had a special meet and great with Joey, his puppeteers and one of the actors from the play at the Center for Puppetry Arts (one of our favorites).  From the minute Joey walked on stage, we forgot that he was puppet. His ears moved like a horse, his tail moved like a horse and he even breathed like a horse! Edmond was very impressed.  As the actor who plays Caption Nichols talked about Joey, the horse responded to him, even getting upset when he walked up to him face to face.

Joey was made in South Africa and has 3 puppeteers who operate him, two inside the puppet and one at the head. The puppet itself weighs around 100 lbs. The puppeteers must move together and act as one horse! These guys make an excellent horse!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WOW!!

After we were mesmerized by Joey, the 3 puppeteers came out on stage to tell us more about their special job making Joey come alive!

The puppeteers!

 

Edmond loved hearing the puppeteers talk about being a horse!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“War Horse” is coming to Atlanta at the Fox Theater, Sept. 25th– Sept 30th.  You can check out the Fox Theater’s website for tickets. We are definitely going to see it, but will have to bring tissues for Edmond :)! This show is recommended for ages 10 and up. Thank goodness we are just old enough.  And for those of you, who are too, go check it out! It is sure to be an amazing adventure!

 

Categories: Animals, Atlanta, Children, education, plays, Puppets | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

Aesop’s Fables Puppet Style!

Posted on August 7, 2012 by Ellie and Edmond ©

Aesop’s Fables Rocks!

We went on Friday to catch the new show at the Center for Puppetry Arts, “The Tortoise, The Hare and Other Aesop’s Fables”. This fabulous puppet show aimed at entertaining the little ones, sure does the trick! You sit down and are immediately drawn into a carnival atmosphere with colorful paintings of some of the most famous fables around! Then the lights go down and here comes Cutie and Patootie, our storytellers for the show! These two ladies sing and dance and tell the fables with all kinds of puppetry and audience participation. That’s right folks we were able to sing and dance along with Cutie and Patootie!

The show tells five fables, including The Mouse and the Lion, Country Mouse/City Mouse and the Fox and The Crane.  Each fable is told through different music and types of puppetry. County Mouse/City Mouse was told using shadow puppets. The country mouse goes to see her city cousin and along the way she meets all kinds of animals, including a horse! The best part of this fable was singing along like a horse! Edmond just loved it!

The Fox and the Crane included a giant crane puppet that looked like it was 10 feet tall! It probably was our most favorite puppet in the whole show! The Mouse and Lion had some excellent dancing and of course we were tapping our toes through the whole number!

We don’t want to give away any more of the show, so that you will be surprised! We really enjoyed ourselves! The music, costumes and puppets make for an interactive and fun show that everyone will enjoy! “The Tortoise, The Hare and Other Aesop’s Fables”, opens Aug 2nd and runs til Sept 7th. For more information about tickets and times check out the Center for Puppetry Arts website!  Grab your dancing shoes and get down to the Center as fast you can!

After you see the show, you can make your own mouse puppet! Look how cute he is!

 

Categories: Animals, Atlanta, Children, education, entertainment, Puppets | Tags: , , , , | 2 Comments

Interview with Zack the Rabbit!

Posted on April 6, 2012 by Ellie and Edmond ©

We’re wrapping up Rabbit Week with an interview with our pal Zack the Rabbit, who has an internet show called Cooks with Rabbits every Saturday! Let’s all sit down and get to know Zack and his pals!

E & E: Hi Zack! Tell us a bit about yourself!

Hi, I’m Zackary Rabbit. I’m the chef on “Cooking with Rabbits – Rabbits are the CHEF; NOT the Meal!!” #cookinwifrabbits a twitter cooking show airing every saturday afternoon (3:30pmEDT).
I live with a bunch of stuffed bunnies on my Plushateer’s bed and take care of my Plushateer. We bunnies make short movies, take lots of funny pictures and I also draw a #webcomic called “It Must Be A Tuesday” that I post each Tuesday. In my spare time, I enjoy playing video games.
We like to make people laugh with our silly photos and just share our adventures with the rest of the anipal community.

E & E: Wow! All of those activities must keep you busy! That is so nice that you take care of your Plushateer and work so hard to make people laugh! How are old are you?

I’m going to be 12 in April this year! Holy bun, I’m an old rabbit! hahaha!!

E & E: You’re not old! Twelve is a fun age! Do you have any brothers/ best friends?

I have many brothers. Rufus is my partner in crime. He’s younger and a bit naive, but he’s good to have around when you need to blame something on someone! Haha! Rufus’ favourite thing is food – any food – and he helps me on my cooking show because he gets to eat at the end.
Big Guy or BG is another brother. He’s twice the size of me. Big Guy enjoys watching movies and cuddling. He’s second in line for plushateer-support.
I have many, many other brothers; you can see some of them here.
As for furrends, I have the most bunnderful furrends on twitter!! The community there is so magical. They are there to laugh with you and cry with you, no matter if it’s sunny days or cloudy days. Without them, I would not be the rabbit I am today. What more can I say?

Zack and his pals!

 

E & E: Rufus is a great friend to have! Having so many anipals on twitter is great! They can make you smile!

We just love Cooks with Rabbits! How did you get started?

Cooking with Rabbits started in kind of a funny way. My ITGuy enjoys cooking, but seldom has the time. So every Saturday, we tried to put aside some time to try a new recipe, or make something different. We’d take pictures of the finished food and send them to ITGuy’s cousin to make him jealous! *giggles* (We kept inviting the cousin, but he was always busy, so we wanted to show him what he was missing!! Wahahah!!) As time went on, I’d include preparation pics and it became a series of how-to photos. Twitter furrends started enjoying the show so much; we continued to make them every week. This year is our 4th year!! WOW!

E &E: Wow, four years is a long run! We hope to enjoy many more!

Which episode is your favorite?

My favourite episode…it’s hard to choose, I loved making so many of them.. hmm…but I’d probably say Chocolate Chip Cookies or Banana Bread. Those are some of my favourite recipes, and the more “risqué” pics in those episodes got a lot of attention (and giggles from the “pawdience” hee hee).

E & E: We love the Banana Bread episode too!

Have you ever had an accident in the kitchen?

I’ve never had an accident cooking in the kitchen, but one time plushateer (who carries me all the time, everywhere), opened the fridge to get something, and someone had left a half-drunk bottle of raspberry cooler open in there. She accidentally knocked it, and in trying to catch the bottle before it smashed on the floor, the pink coloured cooler landed mostly on my face!! UGH!! I had to have a spin in the dreaded washing machine after that to get out the smell and colour!! Grr!! (I hate the washing machine, if you haven’t figured that out yet. heh.)

Somebunny loves carrots!

E & E: Ack! The dreaded washing machine is scary!

You’re always dressed so nice! Do you have a stylist?

Yes, I do have a stylist! Snuffy Norton (@snuffynorton) is the designer of Bearmani clothing, custom clothing for stuffed bears and animals. He makes a lot of my clothes for me. Otherwise, if I’m feeling lazy, I’ll wear BABW (build a bear workshop) jeans and hoodies. http://shop.bearmani.com/

Zack looks great in his chef's outfit!

E &E: Snuffy knows how to make a snappy outfit!

What’s your favorite part of doing the Cooks with Rabbits show?

A Cooking with Rabbits shows take about an average about 6-8 hours to make. Making the food, and posing for each pictures, then editing photos, creating animations, or adding backgrounds if required… all take quite a long time to do. Not to mention, the hare and make up before and clean up afterwards! Heh. But my favourite part of making my cooking shows? Paws-down, is reading the comments that people leave afterwards. It makes me so happy that my show brings laughter and smiles to so many people. When I see those silly comments by furrends and fans that makes me feel like it’s all worth it. 🙂

Zack with his new puppy- Mia!

E & E: Wow! It sure takes a long time to make an episode! We sure are glad that you work so hard to make them! We sure do love them and we know that there are loads of fans out there that really enjoy them too! Thanks for doing an interview with us! You’re the best!

You can find Zack the Rabbit products on his zazzle page- with the #cookinwifrabbits pics.. http://www.zazzle.com/zackrabbit the aprons are quite popular as are the mugs! *hugs*

You can follow Zack on twitter @ZackRabbit and be sure that you check out his website for new episodes! Zack also has a YouTube channel with some AMAZING videos! The Mission Impossible Video is our Favorite!

Categories: Animals, Children, entertainment, movies, Puppets, rabbits | Tags: , , , , , | 2 Comments

A Trip to “SPACE” at the Center for Puppetry Arts!

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Ellie and Edmond ©

WE HEAD TO SPAAAACE!

            This past Saturday we went to see “SPACE” an original show by Jon Ludwig at the Center for Puppetry Arts! It was an amazing ride and great fun! The premise: Rockin’ aliens come to earth and whisk the audience away in their spaceship to teach us all about outer space! And let us tell you these aliens can rock!

You meet the three rocking aliens and their pilot and mechanic of the spaceship; Eema and Ot! They are fun pair! The aliens and Eema and Ot take you on an adventure through our solar system with some great songs that help you learn! Sir Issac Newton, the scientist who discovered gravity makes an appearance in the show! He even uses an elephant as an example to explain gravity! See we elephants are everywhere!

We loved the man in the moon number that explained the phases of the moon! An Ellie and Edmond moon tidbit: Did you know that many animals rely on the phases of the moon? Horseshoe crabs come ashore to mate during the new and full moon in spring. Baby sea turtles use the moon to guide them to the ocean after they hatch on land!

We learned all about the sun, Mercury, Venus and then headed through the asteroid belt! That’s right folks; we went through an asteroid belt, where we saw some amazing singing asteroids! After that, the aliens stopped at Jupiter and Saturn! Keep an eye out for a special number from Saturn!

The aliens then head out in to our galaxy, the Milky Way (yum)! Then after learning all about galaxies and stars, the aliens took us back to earth, where they sang a song about how awesome our planet is and how we need to take care of it! We loved this song the best and Edmond was dancing the whole time! We definitely agreed that we need to take care of our planet! We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves at “SPACE” and we can guarantee that you will too!

Ellie gives it 4 out 4 trunks for the great science.

Edmond gives it 4 out of 4 horseshoes for the great music!

We recommend that your gallop and don’t walk to The Center for Puppetry Arts to catch all the outer space fun!

We have our own space helmets and we're ready!

The show runs Jan 26th-March 11, 2012 every Tuesday-Sunday. Here’s the website for more details: http://www.puppet.org/perform/space.shtml

Here are some photos from our trip!

Aliens lurk in the lobby of The Center for Puppetry Arts!Opening weekend!You can make your own alien puppet! FUN!Here we are with an alien!Here we are with the program!

Categories: Atlanta, Children, education, Local, Puppets, science, space | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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