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PACER Puppets Overview
In 1979, the PACER Puppets, a multicultural cast representing children with various disabilities, were introduced to classrooms of kindergarten through fourth graders. The puppets, each a unique work of handcrafted art, were created as an innovative teaching tool to educate children about their peers with disabilities and assist schools in efforts to implement programs of inclusion.
The puppets come to life through the puppetry techniques of trained volunteers. The COUNT ME IN® shows range from 35 minutes to one hour, depending on the age of the students, and typically include scripts on blindness, deafness, spina bifida or cerebral palsy, and Down syndrome. Supplementary scripts on a variety of other disabilities have also been developed.
The goals of the COUNT ME IN project are to provide an opportunity for children to explore disabilities in a comfortable learning environment, gain acceptance of disabilities through understanding, and foster positive attitudes toward persons with disabilities.
The KIDS AGAINST BULLYING Puppet Program helps children and adults learn about bullying prevention. This exciting new puppet program was developed in response to requests from parents and teachers to supplement PACER’s Kids Against Bullying Web site (www.pacerkidsagainstbullying.org). KIDS AGAINST BULLYING features five endearing multicultural, child-size puppets that portray children with and without disabilities. These puppets have proven to be a comfortable medium through which to teach children about bullying prevention. Opportunities exist throughout the presentation for children to learn through dialogue and question/answer.
The LET'S PREVENT ABUSE puppet project was added in 1984 because of awareness that people with disabilities are more vulnerable to maltreatment. In the LET'S PREVENT ABUSE show, which lasts about 35 minutes and is designed for children in grades 1-4, the puppets talk to students about child abuse, safety skills, and that abuse is never the child's fault.
PACER’s puppet shows are entertaining as well as educational. Children easily identify with the puppets and are able to interact with them through questions and dialogue.
The Let's Prevent Abuse puppet show is no longer available to be performed, but puppets and scripts can be purchased as a PACER Puppet Package for your organization.
PACER's site offers many PDF files for download, which require