Exceed everyone’s expectations

The Young People’s Puppet Theatre is an arts education charity that helps young people exceed their own expectations through puppetry.

Our projects guide children through the process of building their own puppets, designing sets, and staging full-scale productions.

We believe that no child should miss out on opportunities to build confidence, resilience and other vital social skills through the arts.

LATEST NEWS

The Crossing Place

A Grim Day Out

Why YPPT?

We've been catching up with some of the teachers, pupils, parents and volunteers involved in our projects to find out - what’s the point of the puppet project?

Hear their incredible stories of how the puppet project changes lives on our YouTube channel now.

Watch on YouTube now
Watch on YouTube now

The Soldier’s Tale

by Igor Stravinsky

7.30pm, Monday 4th May, Trestle Arts Base

A rare public performance by the YPPT - come and see this incredible production that spans 80 years of the family legacy behind the YPPT!

Tickets £12/£10 available here.

by Rebekah King

Wednesday 20th May, St Albans Cathedral

Two fantastic shows about the history of Saint Alban and the Cathedral.

Tickets £7 from:

The Crossing Place 6.45pm, available here

A Grim Day Out 7.30pm, available here

Our summer camp for ages 8-12 returns for July 2026! Join us for an unforgettable week of fun, make new friends and learn new skills as part of the team putting on our comedy Aladdin. Click below for more information and to sign up.

Join us for summer camp

Learn more
Learn more

Art aprons with a difference

YPPT Apron YPPT Apron
YPPT Apron
£12.00

Keep yourself free of paint and clay with a YPPT apron! Our aprons are made from offcuts from our backdrops, and sewn by one of our amazing volunteers. All proceeds from sales go straight into making more puppet projects happen.

The aprons are roughly 70cm long and 50cm wide. Please note that, because they are made of offcuts, each apron varies slightly in size.

Free shipping within the UK. Unfortunately we are not able to ship overseas.

Our limited edition aprons are handmade from offcuts from our backdrops by one of our amazing volunteers.

All proceeds go straight into our puppet projects.

Visit our store
Visit our store

“I’m really impressed because I’ve achieved something that I never even thought about. I’ve learned that everybody is good at something, and if it’s hard, you just have to keep going.”

Renata, aged 10

See our impact
See our impact

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  • "All the hard work pays off. Is it hard? Yes. Worth it? Absolutely."

    Rares, aged 10

  • “I was so impressed with the puppet show. The pupils really did themselves proud and produced such a professional performance.”

    Emily, Year 6 teacher

  • "The end of the show felt amazing because I had just finished doing something that I thought would be too hard."

    Tayiba, aged 10

  • "Her confidence has gone from me worrying that she wouldn’t sit her exams to so high that she sang acapella in front of the whole class on their residential trip. She’s just a different child now.”

    Sinead, parent

  • "My daughter has been excited about the puppet project since day 1, and today watching the show I could see why! What a fantastic learning and development experience that she'll take for life! I wish all kids in the country could experience this in their schools."

    Clarice, parent

  • "It is the most amazing thing you could do and teaches you practical and life skills in a fun way"

    Shiv, aged 11

  • "My daughter was delighted about this show, I cannot express how happy she was"

    Rashitha, parent

  • Every time we had puppets, we were all like “It’s Wednesday! We have puppets! YAAAAYYY! We were all looking forwards to the lessons and we learned so much. And I think that can be transferred to real jobs in real life, which I think is really cool.”

    Kathleen, aged 11

  • "Our son was so excited leading up to the show. School wasn't boring, it was fun!"

    Arlan, parent

  • "I'm way more confident after the project than at the start. I'm really proud of myself and the show."

    Osman, aged 10

  • "This should be a syllabus-based thing in all schools. What a great experience for the children, you could see the dedication and hard work."

    Fatima, parent

  • "I am proud because I did so well, I didn't think I could do it and I am happy because I did the whole show."

    Julie-Ann, aged 9

  • "The puppet project inspired our daughter so much and motivated her to attend school and apply herself across the board. Thank you so much!"

    Chris, parent

  • "The puppet project taught me to never give up, keep on trying and you can do anything if you put your mind to it."

    Khadijah, aged 10

  • "The most inspired I have ever seen my daughter. She absolutely loved every moment of the project"

    Sam, parent