Want to get someone’s attention? Try using a puppet! Here’s a Puppetpower success story with adults – and then five tips for using puppets to teach safety skills to kids – and a new workshop coming soon.
About 20 years ago, I found myself standing on a stage in a huge hotel dining room in San Francisco looking down at hundreds of very officially dressed insurance professionals.
It was an honor to be a guest speaker at the annual luncheon for their charitable foundation, IICF, and I felt nervous about how to get their attention.
As I was being introduced, I saw my Duckie Puppet in my purse, took it with me to the podium, and said, “Thank you so much for your generous support! I just came from a Head Start program and want to show you how we teach young children to set boundaries on unwanted touch.”
I held Duckie high and said, “Imagine that your friend Duckie here wants to tickle you, and you don’t want to be tickled.” Everybody stopped eating, looked up at me, and smiled.
I had Duckie make tickling motions and say, “Tickle. Tickle. Tickle.”
I then said, “All of you, please put your hands up to make a fence, and say, ‘Please stop!” And they did, laughing and practicing with me how to persist in what to say and do when Duckie wouldn’t listen, got upset, and broke the safety rules.
I then went on to tell stories about how their grants were making it possible for Kidpower to provide vulnerable children and their adults with life skills that prepare them to stay safe.
After the program, a number of people came up to thank me, saying, “I wish I had had Kidpower as a child.” And, just as poignantly, “Even this little practice helped me to feel more confident about saying, ‘No!’ when someone makes me uncomfortable.”
Here are five Puppetpower tips we’ve learned in our decades of using puppets to teach kids- and adults – to stay safe.
1. ANYTHING you can move easily is a potential puppet.
You can use a doll, a stuffed animal, a hand or finger puppet, a pine cone, a fork, a sock, your own hand, a cup, or a pen as a puppet.
2. Pick up or put your hand inside the puppet and make it come alive.
Give the puppet a name and a voice. Look at the puppet when you are moving it, and have your face and voice reflect the emotions you want it to show. It is amazing how a few bits of cloth or a piece of metal seem like real characters when you make them move and speak.
3. Start your Puppetpower story by setting the stage.
Use a simple example that is relevant for your audience. State where you are and who you are. For example, “What if Duckie is having fun and does NOT want to leave the park. And I am Duckie’s grownup.”
4. Switch roles as you act out your Puppetpower story.
Instead of explaining, use your puppet to help you SHOW the story with the life lesson you want to communicate. For example:Duckie playing happily at the park: “Dig.Dig. Diggity. Dig.”
You as Duckie’s Grownup: “Time to go home!”
Duckie getting upset and starting to run away, “NO! I will run away.”
You as Duckie’s Grownup, using your other hand to catch and hold Duckie: “Sorry. We’ll come back soon. You can help me make dinner.”
Duckie, struggling and angry: “Don’t grab me.”
You, hugging Duckie, and sounding full of love: “I am holding you to keep you safe.”
5. Coach your audience to practice with you.
Often parents really appreciate rehearsing what to say when their child starts to run away and gets mad when physically stopped. And even a verbal two-year-old will enjoy helping you catch the runaway puppet and repeat the words, “I am holding you to keep you safe!” And you can then have this child practice what to do instead of running away.
Want to learn more about how to use Puppetpower techniques to teach safety to kids?
Join Erika and me for our new Kidpower online workshop, Using Puppets to Make Safety FUN! on March 11 from 5pm-6pm PT.
This workshop is donation-based and free of charge.
Finally, I want to thank the Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF) Western Division for their many, many years of generous grants in supporting our work. It’s been 20 years since Duckie helped us have fun practicing safety skills together, which is at the heart of Kidpower.
Published: February 19, 2026 | Last Updated: February 19, 2026
Irene van der Zande, Kidpower Founder and Executive Director
Kidpower Founder and Executive Irene van der Zande is a master at teaching safety through stories and practices and at inspiring others to do the same. Her child protection and personal safety expertise has been featured by USA Today, CNN, Today Moms, the LA Times, and The Wall Street Journal. Publications include: cartoon-illustrated Kidpower Safety Comics and Kidpower Teaching Books curriculum; Bullying: What Adults Need to Know and Do to Keep Kids Safe; the Relationship Safety Skills Handbook for Teens and Adults; Earliest Teachable Moment: Personal Safety for Babies, Toddlers, and Preschoolers; The Kidpower Book for Caring Adults: Personal Safety, Self-Protection, Confidence, and Advocacy for Young People, and the Amazon Best Seller Doing Right by Our Kids: Protecting Child Safety at All Levels.