Peer-reviewed article
Incorporating the use of puppets and puppetry-based approaches in nutrition: a scoping review of interventions.
Aboul-Enein BH, Benajiba N, Jan M, Alasmari SA, Kelly PJ et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This scoping review examined 25 studies on using puppets and puppetry to teach children about nutrition, primarily targeting pre-school and school-aged children. Most studies used hand puppets, finger puppets, videos, or puppet theatre and found consistent positive results for knowledge gain and engagement, but mixed results for actual behaviour change. The review identifies significant gaps in understanding which types of puppets work best for different messages and audiences. Puppetry appears to be a low-cost, culturally flexible approach that could be integrated into nutrition education programmes.
Key points
- 25 studies identified on puppetry-based nutrition interventions between 1980 and 2025
- Majority of studies (n=19) focused on pre-school and school-aged children
- 15 studies used quasi-experimental or pre-post designs
- Consistent positive findings for knowledge gain and psychosocial involvement, but mixed results on behaviour change
- Limited evidence on rationale for puppet type selection, script development, or optimal audience targeting
Limitations
This is a scoping review rather than a systematic review or meta-analysis, so it does not synthesise effect sizes or provide causal conclusions. The studies identified span 45 years and likely vary considerably in quality, design rigour, and outcome measurement, which the review does not fully address.
Abstract
Puppetry-based activities could serve as a low cost and manageable intervention in improving health-related outcomes. This review aims to identify the research to date and gaps in practice of the role and application of puppetry interventions in nutrition education. A scoping review was conducted using the PICOS framework and PRISMA-ScR guidelines, identifying studies across eight databases between January, 1980 and July, 2025.Twenty-five studies were identified, with the majority (n = 19) aimed at pre-school and school-aged children. Fifteen studies used quasi-experimental, pre-post designs. The use of hand and finger puppets was common, as well as videos and puppet theatre. Studies reported consistently positive findings in knowledge gain and psychosocial involvement, but mixed results on behaviour change. Little is known about the rationale for the type of puppet used, the scripts, and what audience was targeted for nutrition intervention messaging. Research could be undertaken to give more insight into matching what type of puppet to use to match the nature, scope, and extent of the educational message. Reports and recommendations in this review showed that participant engagement is a common and important objective. The gaps of knowledge in use of puppetry in nutrition education are many, thus creating opportunities for further evaluations and research, particularly in utilising what seems to be a manageable intervention within health promotion and disease prevention programmes. Puppetry can be a low cost, flexible, and easy to manage adjunct to nutrition education activities, providing culturally appropriate messaging with a range of audiences.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Puppetry-based approaches including hand puppets, finger puppets, videos, and puppet theatre used as adjuncts to nutrition education
- Population
- Pre-school and school-aged children (majority of 19 studies)
Key finding
Consistently positive findings in knowledge gain across studies