How to Make a Shadow Puppet Theatre

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By Bunchland.com

One can only draw so many pictures. Exercise your and your kids' creativity by coming up with some characters and storylines. Then make a shadow puppet theatre and have the kids act out their stories for you. Follow Catherine Romano's easy instructions:

As a child, I always liked puppets — marionettes were my favourite. Fast-forward to adulthood, and my interest in puppets is now being passed on to my son. He has an extensive collection of furry, hand-held characters.  I decided to create our very own puppet theatre, more specifically, a shadow puppet theatre.

Detailed shadow puppets are intricate, delicate and quite beautiful (and expensive). But creating your own puppets is fun and simple, and the perfect way to spend an afternoon indoors.

Materials:

• Cardboard box (I recycled a gift box from the holidays)
• Q-tips or Popsicle sticks
• Construction paper
• White paper
• Ruler
• Scissors
• Adhesive tape

Process:

1. First make the puppet theatre. Cut out a rectangular window in your box. Then, glue a sheet of white paper to the cut-out area. Attach decorative elements to the theatre (I choose an orange border and a little green grass).

2. Create your shadow puppets. Simple shapes work best: an animal, a person, a house, a car. Once the basic shape of your puppet is cut out, continue creating more details (My cat includes whiskers and a cut-out nose; my house includes a front door and windows).

3.  Attach a Q-tip or Popsicle stick to the back of the puppets.

4.  Showtime! Place your theatre in front of a light source (a lamp or bright window) and animate your puppets behind the white sheet of paper.

Tips:

• Start the process with an idea for your puppet theatre — a story and characters.
• Most shadow puppets are made out of card stock or bristol board, but I found these materials difficult to work. Instead, I used construction paper.
• An X-Acto knife helps with tiny details.

Photos by Catherine Romano.

Courtesy of Bunchland.com.