A puppetry based system and method is provided. Specifically, the puppetry based system and method comprises a computer environment including one or more images, symbols and other proprietary content (collectively referred to as "images"). A printer is connected to the computer environment for printing the images in paper form. A hinge is provide which is attached to the paper form. The hinge is adapted for hand manipulation to create a hand actuated puppet which is representative of the image. In another aspect of the present invention, a puppetry based business model system and method is provided wherein content providers and owners provide images, to a puppet site. The puppet site reconfigures the images, symbols and other proprietary content to include a hinge area which, when such images are downloaded in paper form, the hinge area is adapted to be hand manipulated to form the paper form into a hand actuated puppet representation of the image. Users, such as children, teachers and parents, subscribe to the puppet site and download selected images in paper form. The paper forms are formed into hand actuated puppets representative of the images and are used for communication, play, entertainment and learning. Further, the puppet site may include a training laboratory equipped with multimedia audio and video to provide demonstrations and modeling of skills and techniques associated with puppet-based learning and communication.