Stories, puppets & play
Research-led CPD, consultancy and speaking for Early Years and Primary education.
what i do
CPD, Consultancy and Speaking
CPD
I run personalised CPD sessions on how to use puppets, stories and play within your settings to improve outcomes and engagement.
Consultancy
I offer tailored consultancy services for your Early Years setting, focusing on effective and research-backed pedagogy, purposeful play and behaviour management.
Speaking
Hire me for your conference or workshop event or guest lecture to speak about the use of puppets and stories in the classroom!
The puppet approach
Why Puppets?
Children have a remarkable ability to give life to the things around them. A teddy can need comforting, a storybook character can need help, and a puppet can have thoughts, feelings — and make mistakes!
Puppets sit in an unusual space between real and pretend. Children know they aren’t real, yet willingly suspend their disbelief: talking to them, teaching them, correcting them and considering what they might be thinking or feeling.
And that makes them powerful tools for learning.
Through puppets, we can create opportunities for children to explain their thinking, take another perspective, practise empathy and explore ideas without the pressure of always having to get the answer right. As practioners, we can operationalise this to improve outcomes and engagement.
Puppet Maths
A complete play-based mathematics programme that uses puppet-led interactions to develop children's mathematical cognition, language and confidence from Nursery to Reception.
Every child gets a workbook and puppet, and every practitioner gets the training and yearly puppet and maths events.
Practice, backed by research
University of Cambridge
MEd Mathematics Education
ETH Zürich
Learning Sciences Researcher and Consultant
Classroom
Qualified and practicing classroom teacher with a specialism in the Early Years
Research
Themes: Play, Early Years, Others in Learning, Executive Function, Attainment Gap, Early Numeracy, Storytelling, Empathy
Speaking and Events
I have spoken at conferences, guest lectures and on the radio!
“I really enjoyed the talk from Fenella today about puppets… it was a really good reminder of just how we can develop oracy and personal social emotional skills through using puppets.”
— Michelle Windridge, Early Years Leadership Conference attendee
Books
Where is Mummy's Hair?
£15.00
2 reviewsby Fenella Symes
Illustrated by Jasia Pang
A tender story inspired by real experiences and research, this picture book follows a young child’s adventure to help find his mummy's hair. This picture book gently opens conversation about illness.
Profits go in aid of Hope Support Services.
Order on amazon here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1036968391QuantityAbout Fenella
Hello, I am Fenella (BSc, PGCE, MEd), an Early Years educator, researcher, author and founder of Symes Education. My career so far has spanned classroom teaching and Early Years leadership, alongside work as a Learning Sciences Consultant and Researcher within a neuroscience lab at ETH Zürich.
Alongside my work in education and research, I am the author of the published children’s book 'Where is Mummy’s Hair' and, through Symes Education, I deliver professional development, consultancy and talks for schools, educators and Early Years organisations.
