The use of puppets makes maths safe.

Children relate with puppets. They know that, as toys, they are harmless, that they are not going to get angry with them, and are not going to attack them physically or emotionally, or hold a grudge against them, or tease them if they get something wrong. Toys are for fun, and they're not going to do anything nasty to the child. This removes all the danger from trying to do maths. In the world of Puppet Maths, when a puppet gives a wrong answer there are no adverse consequences. So the child learns that in this world, it's all right to fail. If it's alright to fail, then it is worth the risk to try. So many children do poorly at maths simply because they are afraid to try. They start to shy away from maths at an early age, and they never engage with it subsequently. As time goes by, they realise that their ability has fallen behind what might be expected of them at their age, and they become embarrassed by their lack of ability, this puts them off the subject even more. However, they are prepared to admit their lack of ability to puppets, because the puppets do not exist in the real world, so puppets are safe, and once children have entered the imagingary world of Puppet Maths their inhibitions dissolve, their minds open up and they find that can "do" maths after all.