A rod puppet is operated from below by rods running up into the body, head and limbs, rather than by a hand inside the puppet or strings from above.
The performer stands or crouches beneath the playing area, holding a central rod that carries the body while thinner rods work the arms.
Why below rather than inside
Working from underneath removes the size ceiling. A hand puppetA hand puppet is worn directly on the hand, with the perform... can only be as large as a hand fills; a rod puppet can be any size the performer can lift, which is how the form scales up to parade figures and full stage characters.
The central rod
carries the head and torso and does most of the acting. Raising it makes the figure rise and take interest. Lowering it slumps the character. Tilting it turns the head. Almost everything an audience reads as emotion comes through that one rod.
Arm rods
are thin, matte black and attached at the palm so the hand can pivot and follow through after a gesture stops. Rigid attachment kills the movement.
Where the face goes
Some rod puppets have a moving mouth worked by a trigger in the central rod; many do not, and are performed like glove puppets with the body doing the expressing. Both are traditional.
The trade
Rod puppets have reach, scale and clean silhouettes. What they lose is the direct, unmediated feel of a hand puppet — every impulse travels through a stick before it reaches the character, and that gap takes practice to close.
The hack: balance the puppet on the central rod before you finish it. A rod puppet that is nose-heavy fights you for the entire performance, and shifting weight afterwards means rebuilding the body.