Crafty Puppets

Crafty Puppets is a rod puppet-making workshop at the Scottish Mask and Puppet Centre on Monday 12 October, with two sessions to choose from: 10am to midday and 2pm to 4pm. It's the kind of thing that works as well for a morning out as it does for an afternoon, so you can pick whichever fits your day.

In each session, you'll build your own rod puppet from colourful materials and recycled bits, style its hair and costume, learn how to operate it, and give it a name to take home. The whole thing draws inspiration from the Wayang Golek rod puppet, a form of traditional Indonesian puppetry theatre, and you can see more Wayang Golek puppets in the centre's museum cabinets if you want to get a proper look at the style before you start.

The Scottish Mask and Puppet Centre itself is a proper West End institution. It houses an 80-seat theatre, a museum, and an education unit, alongside an extensive mask and puppet library and archive, permanent exhibition areas, a cafe, a film and FX unit, a mask studio, and a marionette carving workshop. Between September and June, it runs a regular family Saturday Show programme, with workshops and birthday party events to go with it, and it hires out two touring exhibitions, The Magic of Masks & Puppets and Behind The Mask.

Tickets are £7.95 to £8.95, with all materials included, so you don't need to bring anything with you. If you're coming along with a child, keep in mind that adults need their own ticket to attend, participate or assist. The centre is at 8-10 Balcarres Avenue, Glasgow West End G12 0QF.