Posthumanist analysis of the roles of puppetry for early childhood educators and children

In this empirical and conceptual paper, I explore the potential of puppets and puppetry in supporting social and emotional learning in early childhood educational settings—a practice often overlooked in conventional classrooms. Drawing on posthumanist perspectives and third space theory, I conceptualize the puppet-in-use as a “third existence” that occupies a space between human and material. I refer to this unique role of the puppet as the “Conduit” to capture its mechanism and illustrate its significance. Then, using empirical data, including interviews with early childhood educators and observations, I examine how the Conduit supports social and emotional learning among young children and educators in preschool classrooms. I conclude that the empirical data can support the theory of the Conduit. Lastly, suggestions for the field and directions for future research are presented.