The theme of this paper is the role of a puppet in an institution for early and preschool education and care, with the goal to show the benefits which the puppet brings when being used by kindergarten educators in their work, as well as to show its ways and purposes when it's being used and played with by children of early and pre-school age. Once the stage puppet becomes a resident of a kindergarten, it also becomes a valuable educational toy that has its place of honor. It helps educator to communicate with children, and by playing with it, the child develops and enriches vocabulary with new words and concepts, it develops mime, movement coordination and motor skills. The stage puppet in a group is valuable help in developing the ability to collaborate with peers, creating positive image about oneself (I know, I want, I can) and strengthening self-confidence. The paper also introduces a brief history of puppets and puppetry, as well as a description of the basic types of stage puppets. The paper is written from general to specific, whereby the eighth part provides a concrete example of how the puppet can be used in working with children since early age. The activity took place in the nursery of „Vladimir Nazor“ kindergarten in Kastav, in the educational group „Školjkice“, where the children are between one and three years old. With this activity, the children have recognized the importance of adopting cultural and hygienic habits, and, above all, they have improved their social competences.