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
- 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.
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, like adding whiskers to your
cat, or a door and windows to your house.
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, bright window, or flashlight) 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 those can be difficult to work with. Instead, try construction paper.
- An X-Acto knife helps with tiny details.
Photos by Catherine Romano.