Bring kids drawings to life and put on a vibrant puppet show.
We were given a lovely set of dinosaur shadow puppets as a present and they’ve always been a firm favourite in our house.
We thought we’d take it a step further and add some colour.
What you’ll need:
Black card Coloured acetate or cellophane sheets
Scissors
Craft knife (adults only when working with little kids!)
Pencil
Glue stick
Wooden skewers
Sticky tape
First, ask the little ones to draw something they’d like to turn into a shadow puppet. We chose dinosaurs to go with our other shadow puppets, but you can do almost anything. Animals, people, trucks, castles, houses, dolls, toys, boats, fruit, volcanoes, cranes, musical instruments, insects…
Then it’s your turn grown-ups: copy the drawing onto a piece of black card with a pencil (make the design central on the card, you’ll see why later).
Cut the shape out with a craft knife (remember they’re very sharp!) then cut inside the puppet shape leaving black card ‘outlines’ which will become the frame to which the acetate will be glued. Keep the piece of card that you’ve cut out from for later.
Now it’s time to add some colour. The kids will enjoy this bit. They can cut out rough shapes of coloured acetate, glue the black card puppet outline and stick on the colourful sheets. This does not need to be accurate because you, the grown-up, can trim the excess afterwards.
Lay a wooden skewer on the back of the puppet and stick down with sticky tape.
You’ll need a darkened room, a torch or bright spotlight lamp and a light coloured wall to bring your puppets to life.
Remember saving the pieces of card you cut the puppets out of? You can turn these into stained glass windows. Glue around the edges and lay on coloured acetate. You can stick these finished creations to a window pane. The sunshine shining through will make them look wonderful.
Black card, coloured acetate sheets, scissors, pencil, craft knife (adults only), sticky tape. You will also need a glue stick.
Wooden skewers (pointy ends snipped off).
The kids drew the dinosaurs then I got to work copying them and cutting out of black paper.
The girl adding colour to her diplodocus. Glue on the black card and stick pieces of acetate over the top. This doesn’t need to be accurate – trim the excess afterwards.
Once the boy had covered his allosaurus I trimmed the excess acetate with a craft knife.
The boy’s drawing and finished shadow puppet.
The girl’s finished diplodocus.
The boy’s ankylosaurus.
We turned the sheets with cut outs into stained glass windows. Glue around the edges and cover with coloured acetate and….
….Stegasaurus stained glass window!
We had great fun playing with the shadow puppets. We used a torch shining on a wall to see our puppets come to life.
Colourful Shadow Puppets
The boy and girl got out some musical instruments and played a soundtrack to their puppet show.
Black card, coloured acetate sheets, scissors, pencil, craft knife (adults only), sticky tape. You will also need a glue stick.
Wooden skewers (pointy ends snipped off).
The kids drew the dinosaurs then I got to work copying them and cutting out of black paper.
The girl adding colour to her diplodocus. Glue on the black card and stick pieces of acetate over the top. This doesn’t need to be accurate – trim the excess afterwards.
Once the boy had covered his allosaurus I trimmed the excess acetate with a craft knife.
The boy’s drawing and finished shadow puppet.
The girl’s finished diplodocus.
The boy’s ankylosaurus.
We turned the sheets with cut outs into stained glass windows. Glue around the edges and cover with coloured acetate and….
….Stegasaurus stained glass window!
We had great fun playing with the shadow puppets. We used a torch shining on a wall to see our puppets come to life.
Colourful Shadow Puppets
The boy and girl got out some musical instruments and played a soundtrack to their puppet show.
