I was wondering if anyone else had the same difficulty with the puppets used with the HOBC.  Our Sunday school went together with our puppet team to order Cuddles the Lamb, only to discover upon his arrival that we wouldn't be able to use him.

The problem is in his construction.  Though visually beautiful, he has a very, very small mouth.  I can barely fit three fingers in his upper mouth (but only two comfortably) and my thumb goes in his lower mouth only to the knuckle.  This makes him difficult to work with properly, and uncomfortable, too.  My hand aches after less than 30 seconds of manipulating him, which is bad for a pianist!

(For those unfamiliar with puppetry, you are supposed to keep the top of the head steady and move the lower mouth/jaw, to get it to "talk" - otherwise the head looks like it's bobbing all over).

As most of the puppet team has hands that are larger and less strong than mine, he was impossible for them to work with, so Cuddles is being returned.  We have replaced him with the Wooly Sheep puppet by Folkmanis Puppets, which works wonderfully, both for our "Cuddles" in Sunday school and for the puppet team, who fell in love with him the moment they met him.

What should I do, however, when it comes to Whiskers and Pockets?  I don't want to order them from Group if they aren't going to be usable for the Puppet team too.  Any suggestions?  Thank you!

Alisha