Anatomy of a Shadow Puppet Stage

Shadow puppet theatre in situ.

Puppeteer side with the cheap shoplight (on a microphone stand).

Frosty the Snowman knew the sun was hot that day ...

Puppet show "in progress" - ha ha.

Many years ago we created a puppet stage from two step ladders, two 1 by 6s, velcro strips, and some cloth.  We were also able to do shadow puppet plays by substituting a white sheet in front for the black backdrop.  I got ambitious one year and wanted to do some cute shadow puppet plays during storytime, so I made a stage from a poster carton and just some white roll paper.  Wax paper would work for a smaller stage.  Cardboard has the advantage of being lightweight and easy to toss into the back seat of a Toyota Corolla.

We've created several shadow puppet shows: one based on Remy Charlip's Mother, Mother, I Feel Sick, Robert Barry's Mr. Willoughby's Christmas Tree, Dr. Seuss's story "The Sneetches," and the songs "Frosty the Snowman" and "The Witch Is On Her Broomstick."  They are all just short of a nightmare to put on, but the kids just love them. 

The shadow puppets are often cut (and here the exacto-knife comes in handy) from black posterboard, but I've also used black foam sheets.  If you use color sheets, the color will still show a bit.  Storage is a problem because the fiddly bits start getting floppy so I've gone back and reinforced them with bits of wood (i.e. toothpicks, craft sticks, etc.) and then colored the wood with black magic marker if I need to use both sides. 

Shadow puppets show up clearest if they are pressed flat against the screen of the theatre and to make this easier, I started putting their sticks in at an angle. For the sticks I use bamboo skewers that I've stuck (with hot glue) into packing peanuts hot glued to the back of the puppet.  This works well as long as you aren't planning to use both sides of the puppet.  The long bamboo skewers help me keep my fingers out of the shadows.  Packing peanuts don't hold up forever, but they have the virtue of being plentiful and free, if you order a lot of stuff.  

Diagram of dinosaur shadow puppet with packing peanut and skewer at an angle.

We store flannelboard stories in manila jackets and I've tried doing that with shadow puppets, but moved on to a flap from a corrugated cardboard box.  The skewers fit nicely in the corrugations and the cardboard coordinates with the low-tech theatre.

There's something magical about shadow puppets.  You can use them to freshen up some flannelboard stories and rhymes: Five little whatevers, The three billy goats gruff, etc.  If you use them, it's probably best to use them at the end because it means turning off the lights - and then when the magic's over and the lights come back on, it's time to say goodbye, say goodbye, say goodbye.