A therapeutic puppet show for young children in school
actors performing NATAL’s puppet show
Princess K and the Magic Mirror is a psycho-educational puppet show that was developed by NATAL and performed by 2 actors for groups of young children in school. The story follows a young princess who is confronted with an evil advisor who causes her to go on a journey to discover her inner strengths. On her journey she experiences a range of confusing emotions that test her resiliency and ability to overcome challenges. The visualization of the puppet show and interaction with the actors help children learn that it is ok to feel stress, sadness, fear and anger in reaction to uncontrollable events and that it is ok to ask for help. These same feelings are experienced by many young children both during and after emergency situations and the puppet show is an effective way to help them understand that this is normal, and that help is always available.
The puppet show is performed in schools across the country either as an independent presentation or part of a larger program like Safe Place. Following the performance, social workers and child psychologists from NATAL often lead the children through a variety of activities that help them further solidify and understand the lessons of the show.
