PSYCHOSOCIAL SUPPORT
Several No Strings’ films introduce key messages in specifically child-friendly ways, while our training equips facilitators with puppet skills and activities that put children at the centre of things, gently guiding youngsters towards regaining a sense of control and hopefulness in their lives.
Puppets help children and young people to bring their problems into the room. They provide safe distance (it can be the puppet who has the issue, not the child) and they encourage humour. Through simple, engaging activities, conversations can open up and children can re-establish their sense of playfulness and empathy, learning from one other, while adult caregivers learn too.
Films in this series include The Magic Heart, Out of the Shadows, The Butterfly, and The Corner Frog.
The photo above was taken in Bangladesh at a workshop for Rohingya children.
-
![]()
Bangladesh. Facilitators posing with frog puppets during a Corner Frog and Butterfly training.
-
![]()
Girls in Haiti make Magic Heart doll puppets.
-
![]()
Syrian refugees work with an Iraqi facilitator and puppet to express about feelings.
Clip: The Magic Heart
Psychosocial Support - Haiti
Jacques is persuaded to make a doll for his little sister Antoinette, who has become increasingly withdrawn after their parents were killed – an event that Jacques feels responsible for.
The doll has a little plastic heart which Jacques is told will make it come to life, and in giving the doll a voice he is finally able to find release. When the heart is lost, Jacques panics, but then he learns that the ‘magic’ lay within him all along and through helping, he and his sister are able to turn what had previously seemed a huge, insurmountable corner.
Studies in Haiti found that children were more able to talk about their hopes and fears, and form better friendships, as a result of taking part in the PSS programme.
-
![]()
Boys in Haiti with puppet dolls they have made to help them share about feelings
-
![]()
Haiti. A row of children’s ‘talking’ dolls.
-
![]()
“This old thing? This is just an old piece of plastic in the shape of a heart. No - the magic was in you, Jacques, all along.”
Clip: Out of the Shadows
Psychosocial support - Haiti
After leaving their village following their parents’ death, little Sara sees demons in the shadows everywhere. She hides herself away while her brother Wassam fights with his cousins and all the town’s children. War has taken away everything they knew and loved, apart from one other.
The children's aunt despairs, until a strange traveller arrives in the town with a donkey and some shadow puppets. Wassam is able to use these puppets to tell his story, and both he and Sara make the breakthrough that has until now seemed impossible.
Out of the Shadows accompanies our Peace programme, Red Top, Blue Top, and has been shown to thousands of children in the Middle East who have grown up surrounded by conflict and dislocation.
In Pictures
-
![]()
Syrian refugee children engage with puppets and an Iraqi facilitator after watching the film.
-
![]()
Iraq Syria border. Facilitators have told us how some children have been able to talk about traumatic events through a puppet that they weren’t able to speak about otherwise, and found help and support in doing so.
-
![]()
Sara is traumatised by all that has happened, and sees bad things in ordinary shadows. Scene from our shoot.
Clip: The Butterfly
Psychosocial support and child protection
- Bangladesh (Rohingya)
Noori is transfixed when a butterfly enters her shelter. The creature brings a rush of colour and beauty, and with it a sense of something lost. Noori's brother traps the butterfly in a bottle and as Noori watches, both she and the little butterfly seem to fade away. Noori has not been able to leave her shelter since she turned 14. As such she is typical of many young Rohingya girls. Life in the camp can be dangerous, the culture is very traditional, and her parents worry about her future. How can Noori maintain her hopefulness and resilience, and how can her family best support her?
The Butterfly and The Corner Frog, made in different styles from most of our films, support older children and adolescent Rohingya boys and girls living in Bangladesh.
In Pictures
-
![]()
Rohingya girls re-create The Butterfly story using shadow puppetry.
-
![]()
Our Frog puppet helps children express difficult feelings, and how to find resilience.
-
![]()
A Bangladeshi facilitator traps a puppet butterfly in a bottle during a training session.
Clip: The Corner Frog
Psychosocial support and child protection
- Bangladesh (Rohingya)
The Corner Frog in our story is a wise character who sees into the heart of the film’s troubled protagonist. When Jamir plays chinlone (a kind of volleyball) with his friends, he deliberately loses the ball. Jamir has lost a lot, the Corner Frog remarks.
But what? Jamir refuses to elaborate. He is angry with his friends, and with his younger brothers and sisters. By encouraging him to tell a story to his siblings, the Corner Frog steers Jamir to the place where all his sadness lies, and in confronting the day his father disappeared as his family and friends listen on, he is finally able to find release.
The Corner Frog is a coming-of-age story that helps us to value the importance of sharing our feelings, of listening, of awareness of our feelings and vulnerabilities, and helping those in need. It accompanies The Butterfly programme for older children and adolescents in the Rohingya camps.
In Pictures
-
![]()
Rohingya boys high five each other with their frog puppets.
-
![]()
Group of Rohingya adolescent girls re-create the Little Frog story using shadow puppetry.
-
![]()
Watching the Corner Frog in a community space in Kutapalong camp.
