The Perfectly Playful Puppet Parade (2026), film still

The Perfectly Playful Puppet Parade

About this Short Film

The ‘Perfectly Playful Puppet Parade’ is a film that tells a fictional rhyming story of how school children made a puppet that resembled themself (with a little help) at school. The acting teacher’s intention was for his class to put on a puppet show. Each child needed to write a rhyming verse about themself, and their puppet was to recite it at the performance. But the plot thickened when an electrical storm triggered the class of child look alike puppets to come to life and explore their child’s classroom and get up to mischief. The teacher arrived at school in the morning and on his way to the classroom he heard the puppet antics. The living puppets had to run back to the stage and with haste and return to their non-living form in order not to get caught. The film progresses with puppet show being performed and it was a huge success. The teacher told the students to take their puppet home for the school holiday break and it is in the child’s home that the puppets once again came to life joined a digital puppet group chat using their look alike child’s phone.

Film Details

Country: Australia
State: Queensland
Category: School Short
Genre: Fiction
Festival Year: 2026

Film Transcript

Welcome to the perfectly playful puppet parade by Red Lynch State Colleg's puppet charade. This term we will each make a puppet and it will look just like you but exaggerate its ears, nose and eyes to make a character that is true. Then you will write a poem all about yourself and your muppet, I mean puppet, will perform it on the puppet show shelf. Now, let's get to work, for there is no time to spare. We want to get finished and then the puppet show we can share.

The classroom was quiet as the kids went to puppet‑making work, and you could see the puppets adopting their maker's funniest facial quirk: a big nose, some bulging teeth, mono bro, squinty eyes and the like. Even Atam did not do a doggy puppet making pike.

The next thing to do is to write a little diddy. Make sure it is about you and try to make it quite witty. "Should I talk about things that I like?" "Yes." "Please do not mention your schoolwork strike." "Uhhuh." "Oh, yes. I think I have it. I'm sure." "You want us to talk about fun things? about the things that make us glow?" With that, the students grabbed their paper, pencil and pens and wrote about themselves through a puppet's lens.

The puppets were finished and they looked ever so grand, standing side by side on the puppet‑show stand, so dazzling, bright and cheery they almost looked like they could speak. The puppet show date was fixed for one week. At night it grew dark and a storm outside did brew. Thunder and then a lightning bolt struck and then a gasp. The puppets went to skew. The puppets started moving and mumbling and trying to talk, and some of the puppets started going for a walk. They jumped off the stage and looked all around. "Climb down," one puppet did expound. "Oh, look at this classroom. There's so much to see."

The puppets explored that classroom with joy and with glee. "Wow, this is amazing artwork," said one puppet to its friend. "And this science work shows an interr..." After a while the puppet mob explored the kitchen bench, and there they found student cooking that seemed to be French. "Oh my god," said one puppet. "These, they're not nutritious, but they are delicious."

Suddenly the puppets heard a door opening noise and one puppet shrieked. "Quickly, one to the stage." And another puppet replied, "All they will know. We are living toys." "Hello, who is there?" the teacher's voice cried. But the puppets were now on the stage wearing their onstage puppet stare.

It did not take long for the kids to arrive at school. The teacher said, "Hurry up, children. Keep the follow instruction rule, for today is the day for our puppet show and we want everything to smoothly go." The audience arrived and took their seats. The jobs for the puppet show were now complete. The students performed with their puppet in rhyme and the audience clapped and laughed, thinking it was sublime. "My name's Petra and I think finger grinder. Emma Andrew may give me one to six."

With the puppet show now finished, the teacher did say, "Tomorrow is the beginning of the midyear holiday. You can take your puppet home, but take good care of it. Make sure you find somewhere safe for your puppet to sit."

The puppets were now separated at each child's home. That is right. But something happened in those homes in the middle of the night. The puppets suddenly came alive and were happy to be, so they used their child's device to connect with the other puppets, you see. Then, without delay, they bid each other farewell and good night, for they were scared that their puppet maker would wake up and get a terrible fright.

The end.

Filmmaker

Redlynch State College is the filmmaker behind this entry. See every Focus on Ability entry from Redlynch State College.

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