THE POWER OF PUPPETS

I’ve been involved in the wonderful world of puppets since I was 11 years old – our family business, set up by my parents who were both ex-teachers on a mission to share joy. Our company motto is ‘have a puppet – have fun’ and as both a business and a family we’re always looking at new ways of sharing the magic and power of puppets. Enter Elmer, the iconic Patchwork Elephant loved by millions around the world and the newest addition to our Puppet family, marking the start of a new chapter for a whole lot more fun to be had. Everything we do is about encouraging children to learn through play, to use their imaginations and to have fun. Elmer the most-loved elephant is the perfect partner to start our licensing journey, being all about sharing stories, celebrating diversity and making people smile. We have been approached by many different licences over the years, but have never found quite the right fit. Having worked in the licensing industry myself many moons ago, I was also hesitant – we are so passionate about what we do that to take on a new licence had to be something really special, and from our first conversations with Andersen

Press we knew we had found it.

First published by Andersen Press in 1989, Elmer the Patchwork Elephant remains one of the most iconic and widely read children’s books of all time. Written and illustrated by the late, great David McKee, it has sold over

Above: lectures on the use of puppets in our early days, I’ve experienced first-hand just how useful puppets are as teaching aids and opening up new play value. Our whole team are passionate about early years education and the benefits of sustainable, creative play. Our Elmer puppets provide a great way for children to develop core skills and are perfect for increasing interaction, imaginative play and language development. Being puppets they also help with refining motor skills through the use of finger and hand manipulation. ten million copies worldwide and shows no signs of slowing down.

The introduction of Elmer at this point in our journey comes as we enter a new chapter of exploring new ways of sharing the magic of puppets and we are so pleased to have started with such a firm favourite.

In line with all our in-house puppets and soft toys, our Elmer hand puppet and finger puppets have been specifically designed to be both affordable and accessible to as many people as possible. Puppets are wonderful tools to help young children especially engage and relate to and have a huge variety of uses including encouraging speech and language development in young children. Growing up around teachers and sitting in on

We also have another very exciting licence launching next year that will sit alongside our own in-house products and be the perfect friend for Elmer as we continue to bring stories and imagination to life. The arrival of Elmer this year also coincides with the start of some really exciting other partnerships and projects, including working to support children and families with some amazing charity partners. We love that Elmer champions diversity and inclusivity and are really excited to be working on some amazing new puppets celebrating these themes to help raise funds and awareness for some really key causes.

Having loved Elmer myself as a child and now reading (and rereading) it to my young son, I am so excited to see how our Elmer puppets will bring story time to life and help inspire imaginations for the littlest readers and beyond.