For activity directors
A joyful, low-lift storytelling program that helps residents connect.
Get Puppetty brings residents together with simple personalized puppets, storytelling, drawing, laughter, and imagination. Led by David Winstein, the program includes materials, structure, and facilitation so your team can offer something meaningful without having to build it from scratch.
Who Is This For
Senior care communities that want resident engagement to feel more personal.
It works well for:
- · Assisted living
- · Independent living
- · Memory care
- · Skilled nursing
- · Adult day programs
- · Family nights
- · Intergenerational events
- · Community celebrations
David has worked in senior care communities across California, Arizona, and Nevada, with all levels of senior and memory care, and with audiences ranging from 5 to more than 100 people. He has also worked as an activities director, so he understands the reality behind the calendar. Limited time, different resident abilities, last-minute changes, family expectations, documentation pressures, and the constant need to offer programs that feel fresh, inclusive, and worth attending.
Why Activity Directors Bring in Get Puppetty
A strong activities program supports quality of life, dignity, and connection.
Federal nursing home requirements emphasize each resident's right to choose activities consistent with their interests, assessments, and plan of care, and require facilities to support physical, mental, and psychosocial well-being (eCFR). CMS activity guidance also looks at whether activities reflect resident preferences, interests, goals, functional abilities, and adaptations for cognitive or physical limitations (CMS).
That is a lot to ask of one activities team.
Get Puppetty helps by giving you a program that is:
- Easy to host
- Flexible across ability levels
- Social without being forced
- Creative without requiring artistic skill
- Participatory without putting anyone on the spot
- Memorable enough for residents and families to talk about afterward
The goal is simple. Help residents feel seen, included, and connected.
What Happens in a Session
David begins by creating a relaxed, playful room.
Residents are invited in, never pressured. Depending on the group, participants may:
- Respond to memory prompts
- Share a short story
- Invent a character
- Choose a setting
- Help create a simple puppet
- Watch and laugh from the audience
- Voice a character
- Perform with others
- Contribute a small detail that changes the whole story
For senior audiences, prompts often draw on familiar moments. Family stories, first jobs, school memories, favorite places, mishaps, friendships, holidays, surprises, and everyday life.
For memory care groups, David keeps the experience accessible and in the moment, using visual cues, simple choices, familiar themes, humor, and imagination. The goal is not to test memory. The goal is to create connection.
Why It Works
People connect through story.
A shared story can turn strangers into neighbors. It can remind residents that the person across the table may have loved the same song, worked a similar job, raised children, lost someone, traveled somewhere, made mistakes, or laughed at the same kinds of things.
Social isolation and loneliness are widely recognized as serious public health concerns for older adults (National Academies). California activity requirements recognize the importance of planned social, creative, recreational, and purposeful activities that meet individual needs (22 CCR ยง 87219).
Get Puppetty is built around that need for connection, and keeps the experience light, warm, and fun. Residents do not have to perform to participate. They can join in at the level that feels right.
Program Options
Four ways to bring Get Puppetty to your community.
-
Interactive Storytelling Performance
A lively, flexible performance that blends storytelling, puppetry, audience participation, and shared memory. Best for larger groups, family events, community rooms, holiday programming, or a first introduction to Get Puppetty.
- Duration:
- 45 to 60 minutes
- Capacity:
- Flexible
-
Get Puppetty Mixer: Collaborative Story Workshop
A hands-on workshop where residents create simple puppets, respond to prompts, share memories, and build short stories together. The session can end with informal sharing or a mini film festival presentation.
- Duration:
- 60 to 90 minutes
- Capacity:
- Up to 30 participants
-
Custom Bespoke Puppet Stories
Individual sessions with David to help a resident capture and shape a personal story. May include conversation, photo selection, puppet creation, backgrounds, and a short completed film that can be shared with family according to resident and facility permissions. Makes a wonderful birthday gift.
- Duration:
- By appointment
- Capacity:
- 1 resident
-
Six-Session Senior Story Package
A deeper resident engagement series designed to build familiarity and creative momentum over time. Includes an introductory session, resident story discovery, four creation workshops, and a final sharing session, screening, or performance.
- Duration:
- Six sessions, 60 to 90 minutes each
- Capacity:
- Up to 30 participants
Helpful for Mixed Abilities
Senior communities rarely have one type of resident in the room.
Get Puppetty can be adapted for:
- · High-energy groups
- · Quiet groups
- · Mixed cognitive abilities
- · Residents who love attention
- · Residents who prefer to watch
- · Shorter attention spans
- · Memory care settings
- · Large events
- · Smaller, more intimate groups
David follows the room and adjusts the pace, prompts, and participation level as needed.
What Your Team Provides
This should feel easy.
Your team typically helps with:
- Choosing the right room
- Inviting residents
- Sharing any important resident or care considerations
- Confirming photo and video permission policies if recording is part of the program
- Helping residents arrive and settle in
David brings the format, energy, materials, prompts, and facilitation.
Let's make your next activity easy to say yes to.
Tell David about your residents, your setting, and what kind of program would help your calendar. He will help you choose the right format.
Email: getpuppetty@gmail.com