Helen Meurs - Puppetologist
Helping you use a puppet to reach the child behind the behavior
Discover a playful, relational approach to connect with children using a puppet, for parents, teachers, and child professionals
Relational Puppetry is a play-based, connection-first method that helps you reach the child behind the behavior – with the help of a puppet.
It's about:
Building Trust
Through playful interactions
SEL
Supporting Social Emotional Learning
Language
Learning language in natural ways
Connecting
Using a puppet as a bridge to connect
You already have what it takes: curiosity and the willingness to help a child.
The puppet is there to support you – to help you where you can’t yet find an opening.
It becomes the bridge between your world and the child’s.
Relational Puppetry
Do you know children who:
Say little or stay silent.
Get overstimulated, shut down, or drift away.
Need more time before they feel safe enough to join in?
Come alive when the topic speaks to them.
Grow when they can go at their own pace?
And do you:
Want something real, not scripted?
Believe in presence over performance.
Know that connection can't be forced - but can be invited?
Feel open to learning, even if it feels a bit awkward at first?
Then relational puppetry could be a good fit for you
For Parents
Learn how to use a puppet at home – no experience needed.
Relational Puppetry helps you:
Support emotional and social growth
Deepen your daily connection with your child
Guide behavior gently through play
For Professionals
In your sessions, classroom or coaching practice, a puppet can:
Lower the threshold for children to open up
Make space for self-expression through play
Support language, SEL and trauma-informed care without pressure
Free Resources
Workshop for Parents
Not a theoretical lecture but a new way of looking, plus practical tools you can use right away.
Workshop for Professionals
Creating a doorway that invites and activates children in a way you can’t do on your own.
Magazine
The Puppet as a Bridge to the Child.
A different way of seeing, speaking, and working with children.
E-book
10 Simple Ways a Puppet can
Lower the Threshold. A gentle guide to building trust and connection.
E-book
The Hand Puppet as a Tool for Language Development. This guide gives you a few ways to get started..
E-book
You don’t need a store-bought puppet to start working with puppets.
Try a handmade puppet first.
About Us
MEET THE FOUNDER & CEO
Helen Meurs
Trainer, author, and creator of Relational Puppetry.
I’ve helped thousands of parents and professionals connect more deeply with children through the power of play, presence, and a puppet.
Co-FOUNDER & Full-fledged assistant
JaNee
JaNee is my puppet and the co-teacher, role model, and emotional anchor in the Relational Puppetry approach.
She is not just a character in the work, she is the bridge that makes emotional learning possible.
Programs
A 4 Week Guided Training For Parents
If talking no longer brings you closer to your child, it’s time for a different kind of opening.
A 3-Month Guided Program for Professionals
If you need a clear, practical path to make your puppet
a trusted presence children respond to.
Kits & Bundles
Sometimes, a question is all it takes to break the ice and create a new way in.
This playful bundle helps you move from “I should try this someday” to “We did it - and it worked.”
Calendar
19 January
09:00
10:30 ET
A Different Way In – How A Puppet Can Help You
Free Workshop For Professionals
21 January
14:00 -
15:30 ET
When talking doesn’t work, play does
Free Workshop For Parents
27 January - 21 April
14:00 -
15:30 ET
Building Bridges guided group
A 3 Month Guided Program For Professionals
11 February - 4 March
19:00 -
20:30 ET
Playful Connection
A 4 Week Guided Program For Parents
Testimonials
Get In Touch
Business Details
Address
Sabal Palm, Kralendijk, Bonaire
Caribbean Netherlands
Owner: GH Meurs (Gerritje)
Chamber of Commerce: BES 12555
VAT number: BES 310023774
