My wife and I are in the process of creating a kids show that will include magic,ventriloquisim and balloon animals. I have a question about using a vent figure in close proximity with children. How do you handle kids coming up and saying "Let me see!", wanting to handle the puppet?

DougE,
Two ideas on that ,since I do most kids shows.
One, you need to have what they call a warm up with the kids ,many ,many books on the subject. It help you get control of what is going with the kids. If you need
a list of books ,please let me know.
Second, you will need a some rope ,I use a thick rope and make a magic stage so this kids know this is the stage and most of the time will not cross the rope.
Please know with driffernt age children ,this can be driffernt problem . I have now with younger childrens at the end of my show , let them pet one of the older
soft puppets.
But I still think the warn up with the kids is best ,let them know what you what you expect out of them and most of the time they will leave the puppets alone.
One more thing ,leave your puppet out of site until you bring it to life, then
put back to where it out of site again when your done . Hope this help you.
Alson