More SEL Puppet Plays

These three puppet plays provide a creative way to teach students about the concepts of responsibility, resilience, integrity, synergy, and effort. These playful puppet shows can be performed by elementary children or by older students performing for younger audiences.

About the playwright:

Liz Farney Maxson has been a high school English teacher, dance teacher, and drama director for over twenty years. She has degrees in dance, creative writing, and education. She teaches grades 9 – 12 in Ohio and directs theater for her high school and local community theaters. In her spare time, she teaches dance and performs. She is excited to write for Drama Notebook as she loves to use the scenes and plays on Drama Notebook with her students.

Excerpt from the play:

Responsibility
By Liz Farney Maxson

CHARACTERS: Three Puppets (any gender or creature)
PUPPET 1
PUPPET 2
PUPPET 3

(The original puppet show used a boy and girl puppets for 1 and 2 and a robot puppet for 3.)

SETTING: Puppet Theater stage set up or nothing. The scene takes place at school.

(PUPPET 1 rises and sighs heavily.)

PUPPET 2: What’s wrong?

PUPPET 1: Nothing. (Sighs heavily again.)

PUPPET 2: Yeah. There is something wrong. What is it?

PUPPET 1: I forgot to pick up my chips, and they fell all over the floor. Then, someone stepped on them, but I walked away. Why does my stomach hurt? I didn’t even eat the chips.

PUPPET 2: I think that is guilt you’re feeling.

PUPPET 1: Guilt?! Oh no. That sounds awful… and serious. Will I need to go to the doctor?

(PUPPET 3 rises in the back after hearing PUPPET 1 get upset.)

PUPPET 3: Is everything alright out here?

PUPPET 1: (overly dramatic) NO! I have guilt! It’s never going away, and I’m going to have to go to the hospital.

(PUPPET 2 looks shocked at PUPPET 1, then looks to PUPPET 3 for help.)

PUPPET 2: That is not what I said.

PUPPET 1: Yeah, it is. You said I had guilt because my stomach hurts.

PUPPET 3: Your stomach hurts? Did you eat something bad?

PUPPET 1: NO. That’s just it. I left my bag of chips on the table, but they fell onto the floor. Then someone stepped on them. I should’ve picked them up and cleaned up my mess, but I walked away. Now, I must go to the doctor and the hospital because of the GUILT in my stomach…

PUPPET 2: You don’t need to go to the doctor or the hospital.

PUPPET 1: I don’t? Do I at least need medicine?

PUPPET 3: No. You don’t need medicine, either. You already said what you need to do to feel better.

PUPPET 1: Oh… Get another bag of chips and eat those?

PUPPET 2: No. You need to take responsibility for what happened. You left a mess on the floor that you didn’t clean up.

PUPPET 3: Yeah, and you walked away. Now, someone else is going to have to clean up a mess that you could have and should have cleaned up.

PUPPET 1: But it wasn’t my fault the bag fell on the floor.

PUPPET 2: Maybe not. It sounds like it was an accident. However, they were your Chips, and you saw the mess and didn’t do anything about it.

PUPPET 3: Exactly. And your stomach is reminding you that you made a bad choice. That’s what guilt is. It is that feeling you get when you know you did something wrong or made a bad choice.

PUPPET 1: But how can I fix it now? We’re here and the mess is in the cafeteria.

PUPPET 2: Let’s go see if the mess is still there.

PUPPET 3: And we can help you clean up the crumbs with a broom and dustpan.

PUPPET 1: That is so nice, you guys. I am so glad we are friends and that you guys helped me to get rid of my guilt by fixing my bad choice. You’re the best!

PUPPET 2: No. You are both the best.

PUPPET 3: Actually…

All PUPPETS: The [Insert School Mascot Here] are the best!!

CURTAIN