PRESENTS:
Bakster and Bird is the story of two surprising friends – a bird named Bird who has lost her song and Bakster, a philosophical mouse who dreams of flying!
After many thwarted plans and close calls, they discover they can attain their dreams and find their true selves by helping one another. With endearing characters, intriguing contraptions, original music and a thoughtful theme, this beautiful video production and program engages children and adults alike.
Discover the true meaning of friendship.
Meet Bakster and Bird
Bakster is a maker-mouse who wants to “break the bonds of mousedom” and thinks that they can express their true mouse self by flying.
Bird is a singing bird who sings about what they see and hear but discovers that their song is gone after being bumped out of a clock.
What will you learn?
The Bakster and Bird program takes a STEAM approach whereby science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics are integrated throughout the movie, puppet-making, and learning prompts.
With the guidance of parents or teachers to ask questions, dialogue and think critically: children (ages 5-12) will engage in online learning that is made practical with their hands. This STEAM approach allows for deeper connections, more creativity, and more solutions in their learning.
Connections to the Alberta Curriculum
-
Language Arts:
Develop listening and speaking skills by sharing ideas, stories, songs, and poems.
Share understanding of ideas and information about people, places, or things that are real or imaginary.
Express ideas and information creatively.
Contribute to discussions by asking questions and speaking in sentences that contain complete ideas.
Math:
Recognize 2-D and 3-D shapes in the environment.
Order a sequence of events according to time.
Physical Education and Wellness:
Healthy relationships support social-emotional well-being.
Personal boundaries can be communicated through words and actions.
Science:
Examine movement of objects, humans, and other animals.
Examine components of environments.
Explore the purpose of instructions.
Social Studies:
To be coming in 2025
-
Language Arts:
Speak about experiences and information using appropriate vocabulary.
Retell the main idea, characters, and details in the story.
Combine ideas in logical sequences.
Organize ideas to create stories.
Math:
Identify and sort 2-D and 3-D shapes.
Identify cycles of time from nature and calendars.
Physical Education and Wellness:
Practice words and actions that support friendship.
Practice ways to express, request, obtain, or refuse consent relating to personal boundaries.
Science:
Investigate characteristic of movement.
Investigate plants and animals and the relationship among them.
Order and follow instructions.
Describe the steps of an investigation and make predictions, observations, and conclusions.
Social Studies:
To be coming in 2025
-
Language Arts:
Speak about experiences and information using appropriate vocabulary.
Retell the main idea, characters, and details in the story.
Combine ideas in logical sequences.
Organize ideas to create stories.
Math:
Identify and sort 2-D and 3-D shapes.
Identify cycles of time from nature and calendars.
Physical Education and Wellness:
Practice words and actions that support friendship.
Practice ways to express, request, obtain, or refuse consent relating to personal boundaries.
Science:
Investigate characteristic of movement.
Investigate plants and animals and the relationship among them.
Order and follow instructions.
Describe the steps of an investigation and make predictions, observations, and conclusions.
Social Studies:
To be coming in 2025
-
Language Arts:
Use eye contact, posture, gestures, and movements to enhance communication.
Use eye contact, posture, gestures, and movements to enhance communication.
Relate personal experiences to interactions with people or information in books, poems, or plays.
Apply writing strategies to create texts that draw upon a variety of sources of inspiration.
Math:
Recognize parallel, perpendicular, and equal sides in 2-D shapes.
Physical Education and Wellness:
Individuals in healthy relationships resolve conflict by sharing the responsibility in coming to fair solutions to problems.
Consent is established by clearly requesting, obtaining, and communicating refusal in support of personal safety.
Science:
Conduct investigations to determine the effects of contact forces on objects, including simple machines
Analyze interactions between plants, humans, other animals, and the environment.
Investigate creativity and its relationship to computational and divergent thinking.
Social Studies:
To be coming in 2025
-
Language Arts:
Demonstrate listening and speaking that build relationships and understanding.
Create a variety of written texts to share information and develop personal expression.
Identify the purpose, form, and structure of a variety of texts and how they can communicate ideas and information.
Math:
Classify quadrilaterals and triangles using angle and side measurements.
Physical Education and Wellness:
Integrate elements of movement in various physical activities.
Individuals have the right to live in healthy, safe, and bully-free environments.
Consent is critical to respecting the rights, feelings, and belongings of others.
Science:
Investigate the non-contact forces of gravity and magnetism.
Investigate how objects in space are connected to daily life.
Examine design process and their application in solving problems.
Investigate the role of data and evidence in science.
Social Studies:
To be coming in 2025
-
Language Arts:
Engage in collaborative dialogue to share ideas, solve problems, and make decisions.
Evaluate ideas and information to comprehend texts.
Math:
Classify shapes using symmetry.
Physical Education and Wellness:
Perspectives can be shaped or shared using effective listening and communication skills.
Responsibility includes respecting the acceptance or refusal of consent from another.
Science:
Investigate forces in water and air, including buoyant force, lift, and drag.
Examine controlled experiments, including consideration of evidence, bias, and ethics.
Social Studies:
To be coming in 2025
-
Language Arts:
Offer relevant information and logical reasoning to enhance collaborative dialogue.
Analyze texts and interpret contexts to build comprehension.
Analyze how a variety of texts are organized and can influence understandings of ourselves, other people, and the world.
Physical Education and Wellness:
Healthy relationships require consideration for different opinions, thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and needs.
Considering possible outcomes can inform decisions regarding consent in risk-taking activities.
Thinking about the outcomes of risk-taking activities can inform decisions.
Science:
Analyze internal and external forces and their effects on objects.
Describe the role of explanation and hypothesis in science.
Social Studies:
To be coming in 2025
You will have fun with puppets too!
We’ll be making:
Shadow and Paper Puppets
Card-Stock Puppets controlled by Magnets
3D Geometric Paper Sculpture Animal Puppets
Self-Portrait Stuffy Puppets
Elemental Scrunched Paper Puppets
Found Object Noisy Puppets
SIGN UP or BUY NOW!
Curious about the Bakster and Bird Program? Sign up for free and you will receive access to 4 free lessons in the first epsiode of Bakster and Bird.
Watch the movie and receive a puppet-making guide, discussion questions, and more learning prompts. Access to the program is for 3 months.
Testimonials
Parent Quote:
“We have completed only the first episode so far, but I am already in love with the content. The layout is splendid and the site is easy to navigate overall. I like that there are extensions to all the episodes for further research. The content here can easily pass for Grade 1-3 science and art with my homeschool supervisor.” -Rahilat
WP Puppet Theatre is a charitable not-for-profit society based in Moh’kinstsis – Calgary, since 1991. We offer learning opportunities and puppet shows for children, youth and adult audiences. Our programs tour in–person, regionally, and internationally, live – online and on-demand.
In the spirit of respect, reciprocity and truth, we honour and acknowledge that we are based in Moh’kinstsis and the traditional Treaty 7 territory and oral practices of the Blackfoot confederacy: Siksika, Kainai, Piikani, as well as the Îyâxe Nakoda and Tsuut’ina Nations. We acknowledge that this territory is home to the Otipemisiwak Métis Government of the Métis Nation within Alberta District 6. Finally, we acknowledge all Nations – Indigenous and non – who live, work and play on this land and who honour and celebrate this territory. We also acknowledge that there has been storytelling, art, science, music, learning, and dance on this land since time immemorial and that being on this land inspires our work.
W.P. Puppet Theatre Society – Copyright 2022 – All rights reserved. No part of Bakster and Bird’s Movie, Episode Inspos, Puppet Projects and all other material on this site may be reproduced in whole or in part, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission.