There are many kinds of puppets, as you know. There are hand pup­pets, rod puppets, shadow figures, and marionettes. They are little figures operated by strings and wires from above, by rods, or by hands from below.

Puppets are as old as the the...

Before children even learn to talk, and without having seen anyone else dance, they often express themselves naturally through rhythmic movements. Animals also dance! There are birds which actually have group dances, with circling, bowing, ad­vancing, and retreating in uniso...

Everybody loves to hear a band! A parade wouldn't be a parade without one, and can you imagine the circus without a band? Nowadays, a band has even become part of our sports activities, and school bands play at all the big games.

The first brass ba...

Except for the organ, the piano is the most complex-of any musical instrument. In fact, its proper name is the pianoforte, which means "soft-strong." This is because the piano is capable of a variety of tones. Yet the piano grew from a very simple instrument cal...

Do you enjoy Westerns on TV? They're certainly popular with millions of people. Yet can you imagine anyone enjoying exactly the same Western year after year for dozens of years?

But there is a form of entertainment that people enjoy in just that w...

The word "drama" comes from a Greek term meaning a thing done. A drama tells a story by means of action and speech.

We do not know exactly when drama began. It grew out of religious ceremonies in which the life of a god was portrayed by a man or a grou...

Did you ever walk in a forest and suddenly come upon a little brook bubbling merrily along its path? Didn't it sound like music? When the rain pitter-patters against a roof, or a bird sings heartily-aren't these like music?

When man first began to notic...

What does a toy mean to you? Is it just anything you play with; for example, two pieces of wood, a rock or a piece of cloth? While these may serve as toys sometimes, we really mean something more than that by the word "toy."

A toy i...

Was there actually a Mother Goose who wrote the delightful fairy tales and nursery jingles that all children love? Three different countries give three different answers as to who Mother Goose was.

In England, it was believed that Mother Goose was an...

When you read a fairy tale that you enjoy very much, you may imagine that the author of the book made it up. If the book was written in modern times, this may be so. But did you know that long ago people did not invent fairy tales?

The great story...