“Puppets do not grow on trees and they do not make themselves. Somebody had to make the first puppet ever seen and it is interesting to wonder how the idea for that first puppet came to its maker.

Some historians believe that India was the birthplace of puppets, others think it was China, yet others are sure it was ancient Egypt. According to some of the oldest legends in India, the first puppets were made by the gods believed in by the people of long ago.

The history of puppets is part of the history of mankind, and puppets were already in existence when the first forms of writing were invented and the first records made of the life and activities of people. Until that time people only knew about past events by listening to story tellers or by seeing plays acted by human actors - or puppets.

It is not certain which type of puppet was the first to be invented. Some historians believe it was the shadow puppet, in India or China, which were flat, cutouts moved by thin rods. Ancient Greek and Roman writers mention puppets worked by strings, with moving heads, bodies, arms and legs, controlled by the puppeteer above the stage. The wandering showmen of the middle ages often used glove or hand puppet since they were easy to carry about and needed the simplest of stages.

Today one of the most popular forms of puppets is the rod type, with the head fixed to a main rod and smaller rods to move the arms. There are also many other types which are a mixture of these various types, each unique in it’s way, but all bringing the puppet to life” — (taken from “Let’s Look at Puppets” by A. R. Philpott)