Across the globe, puppetry traditions authentically encompasses a variety of expressive media as rigorous storytelling tools. Puppetry employs visual storytelling (puppet design & movement) supported by sounds, music, dialogue & narration. It builds confidence by offering an authentic storytelling voice to young children as they learn to speak & write
Bridges Action Research
What is it in arts activities that awakens students’ agency and expression, builds their confidence to take risks, persist with challenges, solve problems with autonomy, and feeds their learning in other subjects throughout the school day?
8 years of action research in public school classrooms
Our design team worked with artists, teachers & school administrators in 12 schools to research this question, develop activities & build a model.
We identified the elements that allow kids to thrive & developed activities & a model any educator can use, regardless of their arts background.
Evaluator Research
ArtsResearch conducted 9 years of mixed-method research on the impact of the Bridges program. Which showed strong evidence of program effects on literacy and child development.
Through research, we developed a teaching model that builds bridges from the inner world of children- their curiosity, agency and imagination- to the world of school learning. It also bridges literacy, the arts, & social emotional learning.
What the Bridges teach
The Bridges connect aspects of learning usually separated in schools: literacy, the arts, & social emotional learning. Reconnecting these provides a foundation in essential working and thinking skills children need in all their endeavors. A liberated learning environment is created where children can discover their own path into expressive work.
Fundamental to the Bridges model is creating a space in which children can work and think like artists: they discover their own way of thinking and working through a process in which they imagine, experiment, problem-solve, collaborate, self-reflect, and revise. Facilitate their process using research-based guidelines and tools.
Our resources were tested and developed over 8 years of co-teaching and feedback from classroom teachers and artist mentors. We chose activities to share that are exciting and empowering to children, and adaptable for a range of educators.
Use the bridges activity library to find…
resources filtered by content, artform, skills & parts of a lesson.
activities, protocols, tools & booklists.
webpages with supports for implementation including videos and tools for planning, reflection and building your skills.
downloadable supports.
concrete ways to integrate the 3 Bridges into your teaching.
Emotion Vocabulary Activity 1
Play The Statue Game to embody core emotions and engage students in the inferencing process through physical expression. Check out the
Emotion Vocabulary Activity 2
Play the Statue Game to introduce advanced emotion vocabulary & support personal connections through physical expression.
Check out the Emotion Statue Game (advanced)
Try an activity thread! Emotion Vocabulary
Emotion Vocabulary Activity 3
Use Emotion Mapping to visually compare & contrast advanced emotion words explored in The Statue Game.
Check out
Step into Bridges through an entry path that relates our material to priorities in your field. This website serves multiple audiences interested in our research and resources.
Arts Educators
Discover Bridges offerings through the priorities, perspectives and voices of arts educators in Puppetry, Theater, visual, movement, and sound.