BUTLER TWP - Creativity is making a comeback, at least for nine children enrolled in the puppetry class at Butler County Community College this past week.

The children were part of a puppetry class included in the Kids on Campus program, being held throughout the summer at the college and the BC3 Succop Conservancy. The class was held from July 25 to 29 and was designed for children in grades 2 to 5.

In an era of video games and endless television programs geared toward children, Kids on Campus program director Sherri Mack said the class was designed to help get children's creativity flowing again. It was the first year it was offered.

"It was designed to be a combination of creativity and imagination," Mack said. "We wanted the kids to get back to imagination."

From the look of things Tuesday, the children were having no trouble imagining what kind of puppet characters they would be creating that week.Some were creating animals, some were creating people and some had decided to try their hand at both.Linda Burkley, class instructor, said she spent the first day of class talking to the children about what puppets are, as well as some famous puppets like Kermit the Frog."We also talked about what you need to make a (puppet) play, the characters, the plot," Burkley said.The children were then asked to take some time to think about puppet characters they would like to design. The characters were going to be used to design a play for the children to perform for friends and family."It'll be up to me to take their characters and put them all together into a story," Burkley said.On Tuesday, the children began to put their designs to life.Kimberly Toma, 7, from Cranberry Township, decided to make a hamster puppet."I'm making a hamster because I have one and it's cute," she said.The puppet hamster will even bear the same name as her real hamster at home - Socrates.Toma said she wants her hamster character to be a hero in the play.Bonnie Klopfer, 9, of Center Township, was making a girl puppet named Millie.Klopfer didn't have any great aspirations for her puppet's character."She's just going to be a plain person, like me," she said.Kaylee Aul, 11, of Connoquenessing, decided to make a sock-puppet version of a little girl.She planned to call the puppet Cheleigh because it's a name she thought up in her dreams, Aul said."She'll probably be the daughter in the play," Aul said. "I'm also making a dad sock puppet, so he'll probably be her dad in the play."For information on the Kids on Campus program, visit www.bc3.edu or call Mack at 724-287-8711, Ext. 8404.