A theatrical performance of shadow and light is an unusual and interesting activity that all children, without exception, will enjoy.
Exciting preparation, creating scenes and characters with your own hands will give a good incentive to the development of imagination and will become one of the brightest and kindest memories of their childhood!
How to make a Shadow Theater at home? Brashechka will tell you!
Preparing the stage for the Shadow Theater
We will need a light source, an improvised screen and a place where we can feel comfortable as actors :)
As a screen A piece of wide white wallpaper remaining after renovation, a white sheet, thin Whatman paper, or, in extreme cases, several sheets of paper fastened together at the joint, will work perfectly.
Light source An ordinary table lamp or lamp will serve; it will need to be installed behind and slightly to the side of the screen.
Important! The smaller the screen, the thinner and more transparent it needs to be, and the brighter the light source needed!
Now let's decide on the size of the stage.
A large stage for several children or a compact version for one participant? Decide for yourself!
Option 1. Bolshoi theater stage
Is there a bunk bed? Consider the stage of the Shadow Theater already ready! The lucky owners can safely set aside the entire first floor for actors. You just need to attach the screen to the curtain rod and press it down with a mattress.
Less “lucky” with furniture? No problem! :)
Drape a sheet over the doorway, create a “house” under your desk, or simply stretch it between two chairs!
Option 2. Compact stage for one actor
A very convenient option to store and use many times.
The downside is that it’s only suitable for puppet shows and will take a little longer to make.
Take an unnecessary (or make it yourself from scrap materials) large wooden frame, A4-A5 format will be just right. Stretch thin fabric or transparent matte paper over it, secure with small nails and place on a stand. The stage is set!
A wonderful folding stage can also be made from a large cardboard box, in the form of a window with shutters. The “glass” of the window will be the screen of our theater, and the “shutters” will provide stability to the improvised stage.
A great lighting option for a shadow puppet theater is a headlamp! :)
Take care to secure the screen cloth tightly.
This will make the work of little actors much easier in the future!
The stage is almost ready!
Let's make a curtain for her so that our Shadow Theater looks more solemn and very, very real! :)
Scenery and character figures for Shadow Theater
Making shadows with your hands
We've all played with hand shadows on a brightly lit wall more than once.
Let's remember a few basic shapes to get you started:
Click on the picture to view or print diagrams of how to fold the shadow of a wolf, dog, goat, rooster, hare, swan, goose or pig with your hands.
Figure out how to portray someone else yourself!
Figures and decorations for the Shadow Theater made of cardboard
For the puppet Shadow Theater we will need pre-prepared figures and decorations. You can find and download ready-made stencil pictures for the Shadow Theater, but it is much more interesting to come up with a story and draw its characters for the Shadow Theater yourself!
Ask your child who is the main character in his fairy tale? Is he good or evil? What happened to him? And together you will come up with a great story!
Start with a small number of characters - two or three is enough for the first time. After practicing, you can easily move on to more complex performances :)
Decorations for the Shadow Theater It is better to make it from thick cardboard, which is used for packaging household appliances. We don’t want our castle or a large tree to bend under its own weight?!
Characters, drawn and/or printed on plain paper, paste them onto a rigid base and cut them out with scissors. Thin cardboard for appliques is perfect as a base.
If you plan to use the figures you made for the Shadow Theater more than once, we recommend laminating them.
Mounts for scenery and characters
Mounts are needed to control the figures without casting unnecessary shadows with your own hands.
Option 1
Use small hooks made from bent paper clips as holders for large figures and decorations.
Option 2
Split the cocktail tube at one end and glue it to the figure from the wrong side.
Option 3
Attach thin wooden or plastic sticks to the figures using adhesive tape.
Mounts made from paper clips (option 1) are convenient because such decorations can simply be leaned against the screen. In this case, our little actors won’t have to rack their brains about where to get a few more hands in addition to the ones they already have :)
Have you planned a play with several acts and need to change the scenery? Have a short but real intermission! :)
Add some color to the Shadow Theater
Color spots will add even more mystery to everything that happens! :)
Method 1.
Use a colored canvas for the screen. Shadows on a color screen are visible almost the same as on a white screen.
Method 2.
Try cutting out shapes from tinted sheets of paper, for example for drawing with pastels. The color of the paper will show through the white screen.
Finishing touch
Now we are ready to put on a show!
There’s just a little bit left to do - draw the invitations and send them to friends and acquaintances. And after the performance, don’t forget to have a tea party and discuss the performance you watched together!
You don't have to go to a real theater to watch a theatrical performance of light and shadow. All this can be done at home using available materials. Home shadow theater is a fun and useful activity for the whole family. Everyone can participate in the preparation and performance of the performance, imagination is in full swing, the plot is full of surprises, and the level of complexity of the scenery and figures depends on the interest of the kids and the time that everyone is ready to devote to it.
What kind of shadow theater is there?
Finger theater consists of shadows that appear on the screen due to the different positions of the hands and the intertwining of the “director’s” fingers. Most often these are images of well-known animals, but professionals can show human faces or some inanimate objects. This is great for training fine motor skills and coordination.
Puppet theater is a performance using ready-made figures and scenery. The characters are cut out of cardboard, mounted on sticks and moved according to the action. Due to the fact that almost anything can be cut out of cardboard, the shadow puppet theater provides a boundless field for the flight of children's imagination. 
What do you need for a home shadow theater?
1. Light source - this can be a simple table lamp, a travel flashlight or any other lamp with directional light.
2. Screen - is a translucent white plane that can be made from different materials - tracing paper, a thin white sheet, ordinary Whatman paper or sheets of white paper fastened together. The frame for the screen can be a cut-out lid from any box, an artistic stretcher, a two-story children's bed - any structure on which you can stretch the screen. You can make it from a decomposed shoe box and stretch a sheet over a bunk bed. A small “stage” is suitable for simple finger shows, but if you want to prepare a real puppet show, it is better to make a spacious large screen where the whole story will fit.
3. Setting and Characters – Choose where you want to start. If you decide to try finger theater, practice with your child how to fold your palms and fingers in such a way that “live” images of animals appear on the screen. A dog can bark, a crocodile can open its toothy mouth, a bunny can move its ears - whatever you imagine. For the puppet theater you will need thick cardboard from which you will cut out decorations and figures. 
Helpful Tips:
1. The screen should be located between the audience and the lamp. The actors are between the lamp and the screen. Remember that the lamp gets hot and it is best not to touch the light source during the performance.
2. In order for the shadows to be clear, the light should fall directly, and not from the side, and the lamp should not be close, but two or three meters from the wall.
3. The light source should always be behind the screen and slightly to the side. Position yourself so that the shadow of your body almost does not fall on the screen, and the shadow of your hands is evenly clear.
4. It is better to paint cardboard figures with black paint, then they will be contrasting and noticeable on the screen.
5. The size of the shadows on the screen depends on the distance from the figure to the light source. To make the figure smaller, bring it close to the screen. To make it grow in size, place it further away. It is better to secure the scenery close to the screen with tape or bent paper clips so that they do not move during the performance, and little directors will have an extra pair of hands.
6. If the children like the home theater, make a real curtain, tickets and programs. During the performance, you can arrange a real intermission with an impromptu buffet.
5. Start with a small number of characters - two or three are enough for the first time. With practice, you can easily move on to more complex performances.
6. To make the performance “colorful,” use colored light bulbs or filters that can be attached to the lamp. For night scenes - a blue filter, for morning scenes - a red one, and so on.
7. The figures can be made movable by wrapping their arms, legs, wings and tails with soft wire. Instead of sticks that hold characters up, use regular drinking straws.
annotation:
This amazing game book turns into a real tabletop theater, where stories are played out by unusual actors - shadows.
In it you will find:
Folding shadow theater stage;
A set for cutting out silhouette images of characters and scenery for two theatrical productions, created based on the works of the wonderful artist Elisabeth Boehm;
Two famous tales presented as plays;
New interesting ideas!
Create your own production! Choose a fairy tale that you would like to see on stage or come up with your own story. Divide it into several parts (scenes), think over the dialogues of the characters. Use the decorations and silhouettes from this set or create your own. Creating new characters is not difficult at all. If you don't have black cardstock, draw on white, and then simply paint over the silhouette with black paint. Try using different materials to decorate your scenery or characters: feathers, lace, cloth, colored tissue paper.
The room is dim, only the table lamp shines brightly. As soon as you raise your hands, shadows appear on the wall. And if you fold your hands into bizarre shapes or move your fingers, the shadows come to life and turn into mysterious figures or animals. This truly fascinating process fascinates not only children, but also adults.
After all, in order to show children an unforgettable, vibrant performance, it is not necessary to go to the theater. You can arrange a shadow theater for children at home. They take part in the preparation for the performance with great pleasure - they cut out dolls, make a stage, come up with characters and scenarios, and enthusiastically depict the figures of magical animals with their hands. All this is not only interesting, but also educational and useful. Adults spend time with children, while the children develop their thinking, express their imagination, and inner perception of the world.
Hand development is very beneficial for children, especially young ones. Shadow Theater is exactly the kind of role-playing game that will help this process. The images that are created on the wall only with the help of properly installed lighting and their own hands and fingers delight children. After all, there is so much that is new in such a production as a shadow theater for children - an adult can show elementary movements with his own hands, after seeing which the child will be delighted and will definitely try to repeat these actions and even create his own. The baby’s successes and achievements in copying movements and animals will bring joy not only to him, but to everyone around him.
When the child has mastered the basic basics, you can make the process more interesting and exciting, for example, stage a whole performance, where the main role will be assigned to his and your hands, and the audience can be relatives and family friends.
Shadow theater using paper dolls
In order to make it out of paper, there is no need to build any bulky equipment. It is enough to take several electric lamps, thanks to their lighting the shadows will be bright and clear, and a light sheet for the screen. In the absence of a sheet, a simple white wall will do.
The lamps should be installed so that they illuminate the screen well, while the rest of the room should be dark. Spectators invited to the performance should be in semi-darkness, and the direct participants in the show should be between a well-lit screen and a light source. Now you just need to turn on your imagination - and the world of shadows will come to life. To make what is happening realistic, you can adjust the size of the image; to enlarge the characters on the screen, you need to move the dolls further away from the wall, and to make them smaller, on the contrary, bring them closer.
There is another way to make a shadow theater with your own hands for children - the fairy tale you come up with will unfold on a real stage.
But this will require a little more preparation than was necessary for the previously mentioned methods.
How to make a scene
Everyone determines the dimensions of the screen and side walls independently. But it’s most convenient to play with about 50 by 50 cm and side walls - 50 by 30 cm. The resulting box needs to be covered with paper; specialized film for patterns is best suited, it is durable and does not show through.
Silhouettes of the dolls should be made from cardboard, and all moving parts, such as arms, legs and heads, should be cut out separately. You can fasten the parts together with ordinary wire; to do this, you need to make holes in the parts using an awl or a thick needle, stretch the wire through them and wrap them well in a ring on both sides.
You need to attach a cane 40-50 cm long to the doll’s body; it can be any thin stick. You need to screw a screw into it and fix the body of the cardboard doll.
In order for the doll to come to life, that is, to start moving, you need to use threads. They must be durable; floss is best suited for this purpose. Loops of pins should be secured in the legs and arms, as well as in the cane. Tie the thread to the loops on the legs and arms and pull it through the eye of the loop on the cane. If you pull it, the doll's limbs will rise, if you release it, they will fall.
If you tie different colors of thread to the right and left sides, this will prevent confusion when setting. But don’t get carried away by the variety of colors; when controlling during the action, it can be confusing.
In order for the silhouette to be clear, the puppet and scenery must be pressed tightly against the screen, the light must be between the screen and the puppeteer.
In fact, to make a shadow theater for children with your own hands, you can use an ordinary large cardboard box, for example, a shoe box. The main thing is that it stands steadily on the table. The figures can also be anything, you can use your fantasy and imagination, creating fabulous and unusual characters, or you can cut them out using ready-made stencils.
Performance for friends
It will be exciting to conduct such an entertaining activity not only with your family, but also with the involvement of friends and their children. In order to organize a joint shadow theater for children with your own hands, it is better to think through and distribute scripts and roles in advance. Let each of the main characters independently prepare their own doll at home - this will be even more interesting both for the participant himself and for other children taking part in the performance.