Shadow puppets have been a way to entertain adults and children alike for over 1,000 years. Use a few basic ideas to create a shadow puppet play with your children. Simply create the shadow puppets and cast a light on a blank wall. Your children will have hours of fun creating plays and drama complete with shadow puppet characters.
Wolf
Wolves are a central character in many fairy tales, from "The Three Little Pigs" to "Little Red Riding Hood." With its pointy ears and a dog-like snout, you can opt to make just a wolf head or the entire body. Trace the wolf onto a piece of paper and then transfer it to a piece of cardboard. Help your child cut out the piece of cardboard and attach to a lollipop or popsicle stick so that she can hold it up against the light source. Don't forget to cut out holes for the wolf's eyes and mouth. Draw your own wolf, or use the wolf in the Resource section as a template. Your wolf can also double as a dog.
People
With very simple shapes, you can draw outlines of almost any person for your story. Add pigtails to make a girl or add accessories such as a baseball bat or other things to beef up the character. Following the same formula as with the wolf, help your child draw and cut out the character on a piece of cardboard, adding holes for the eyes and mouth and then gluing the cut-out character to popsicle sticks. Create your own people, or use the outlines in the Resource section.
Birds
Birds can be a central part of the story you and your child create to act out, or you can use bird outlines to illustrate a story such as "The Ugly Duckling." Birds are extremely easy to create due to their simple shape, although you may want to draw one or two birds to represent the same character both flying and sitting down. Help your child draw or trace the bird onto cardboard and then attach it to a popsicle stick. Draw your own bird or use the bird template located in the Resource section.
