by Leah Before taking my daughter to her first Rag and Bone Puppet Theatre show, I worried. Would she have the patience to sit through an entire performance? Would the puppets scare her, or worse--would she be bored? Could a puppet show interest a kid with access to animated movies and phone apps?

After the performance started, I quickly realized how little I knew about puppetry and about Rag and Bone in particular. Co-founders Kathy MacLellan and John Nolan are award-winning masters of story-telling and their craft. In their hands, the simplest objects became expressive characters. Complex full-figured puppets breathed life. The children in the audience were as fascinated by the technical aspects of puppetry, as they were by the stories being told. My daughter wasn’t scared by the puppets—if anything, she related better to the stories because it was “like playing with dolls”.

Watching Kathy and John weave among the audience members, performing, responding to the children’s reactions, and seeing the older audience members lean in closer, it is obvious that they have an exceptional ability to connect with audiences of all ages and different backgrounds.

Since that first time, we’ve now gone to a number of Rag & Bone performances. With an emphasis upon classic children’s stories like The Wind in the Willows, combined with dance, music, and video, they create theatre that’s fresh, memorable and definitely fun. After seeing The Flying Canoe, I watched my daughter and her friends come up with their own stories about talking cats, howling like wolves, and sailing over the trees.

If you haven’t taken your child to see Rag & Bone Puppet Theatre, you are missing an extraordinary experience. Their next performance is an adaptation of the Canadian children's classic, Zoom at Sea, by Governor-General Award Winner and Member of the Order of Canada, Tim Wynne-Jones. We can't wait to see how Kathy and John create a whole ocean in a room!

by Amy

After hearing good things about the Puppets Up festival in Almonte last weekend, my husband and I decided to take the kid up on Sunday. Almonte is one of our favourite day trips anyway, so the festival seemed like a bonus.

It was expensive to get in, but there are shows all day and attractions up and down the street so you can make the most of it. Unfortunately we got there at an awkward time, missing the start times of shows that were age appropriate for our daughter, but reviews coming out of the shows were excellent (particularly for Cinderella and The Puppet Tamer).

There were puppeteers roaming up and down the streets and interacting with passers-by, usually asking for hugs and high fives. And one show took place across two balconies.

At one end of the street there were musicians playing, and my kid loves to dance so we sat there for a while and took advantage of some of the food being sold along the street.

We did take advantage of the face painting (which was really great compared to some others we've seen), and we got a great spot for the parade.

The kid was shy of the puppets at first, backing off a bit, but eventually she got into the fun of it. I think she'll enjoy it more next year when she's a bit older. We'll also plan better and look up the schedule before we head out.