Make a Shadow Puppet Set

For families in our schools, winter may not always mean snow and frigid temperatures, but the season brings shorter days and darker evenings to every region across the country.

As we wait for the sunset to shift later and later in the day, we welcome creative ideas that help us embrace more time spent inside cozy, lamplit homes between dinner and bedtime.

This month, we’re sharing a simple Shadow Puppet craft to spark your child’s imagination and natural storytelling abilities. Plus, it’s fun to use a flashlight to put on a show! Watch as our friends, Elliot (7) and Merrick (4), make their own set of figures and then give it a try.

You’ll need just a few simple materials to get started:

• Flashlight
• Black paper or cardstock
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Tape
• Straws, popsicle sticks, or skewers

Invite your child to draw shapes and work together to cut them from the paper. Any shapes will do, but if you need some suggestions, think of characters from your child’s favorite story and create shapes to represent those characters or things they talk about in the book. Animals are always fun too! Think about their habitats, natural elements, or items they might interact with.

For younger children:
Consider tracing cookie cutters to create basic shapes. Tape the shapes to a straw, popsicle stick, or skewer. Set a flashlight on a table or surface and then use the light to make shadows with the puppets. Even simple shapes and the cool shadows they create will wow little ones.

For older children:
Prompt them to think about creating a scene for their figures too. Try cutting a simple frame out of a cardboard box and tape the shapes to the edge of the cardboard frame to make a scene. You could also use the frame as the anchor for putting on a shadow puppet show.