Shadow Puppets

Activity Overview

In this activity, we use a familiar story – The Tortoise and the Hare – to introduce storytelling through shadow puppetry. Children will use a template to cut out puppets and can even make their own to use in the Shadow Puppet Show. This activity provides students an opportunity to expand on their straight and wavy line scissor cutting by adding the element of moving and turning the paper. It also provides students with practice in planning a multi-step process, which trains foundational cognitive function.

What You Need

• Cardstock (you can also use watercolor paper or recycled cereal or pasta boxes)

• Pencils or markers

• Scissors

• Tape

• Wooden skewers (blunt the end), popsicle sticks, or sticks collected from outside

• Puppet templates

• The Tortoise and the Hare script

Steps

1. Cut out the two puppet templates. This is an opportunity for students to really practice shifting directions with scissors and using cross-body awareness. Encourage them to do as much of it on their own as they can.

2. Adhere the puppets to the stick with tape.

3. To create a stage for your puppets, refer to our Shadow Puppet Show activity. Then read along with The Tortoise and the Hare and tell the story with your puppets.

4. You can also choose to design your own shadow puppets! If you design your own, follow the steps above and look to the guiding questions for ways to help students find an idea they want to work on.

Guiding Questions

• Do we want to make a story with our puppets? What kind of story?

• Could we make animals? Characters? Places?

Extensions

• This activity is designed for students to take it as far as their interest goes. Make a full story with as many characters as you would like!

• Cut out basic shapes for students who are not yet able to cut out a character.

• Cut out wax paper characters, tissue paper characters, or use recycled plastic to build your characters.

• Want a challenge? Try making shadow characters with your hands! Use our handy Shadow Puppet Tutorial Guide to get started!