On 27–31 May Ugnė Žirgulė, a lecturer at the Rehabilitation Department of the Faculty of Medicine, together with the students of the Occupational Therapy study programme and the project coordinator Aurimas Galkontas, participated in the intensive study week of the Nordplus programme project “Empowering Puppetry” at the P. Stradins Medical College of the University of Latvia. Students and lecturers from Tartu Health Care College (Estonia), Häme University of Applied Sciences, HAMK (Finland), and P. Stradins Medical College of the University of Latvia (Latvia) also participated in the project. The theme of this year’s intensive study week was “Puppet-making in the education of preschool children”, which invited the project participants to think about how puppets can be used for education and solving health problems.

Throughout the week, students and lecturers engaged in various activities that helped them understand the essence of puppets, emotional support, and educational opportunities for early-age children. Students presented their research on the use of puppetry in each participating state. Puppet making, preparing stories for children, active body language classes and a lecture on the importance of socio-emotional skills in children’s development were the topics that were organised for the project participants.

During the international evening, the participants got to know the national dishes of each country. At the end of the week, students from international groups presented short theatrical performances about the possibility of using puppets for children in various life situations.