Shadow Puppet Patterns

Puppets have been a source of entertainment for children and adults alike. Putting on a puppet show is not as difficult as you think. Read this story for some easy shadow puppet patterns that you can use to make your kid's birthday party a great hit!

What You Will Need

• Cardboard
• Thick black paper
• Pencil
• Eraser
• Sharp scissors
• Glue or tape (scotch or masking)
• Wires, wool or thick string
• Stick or pipe
• Paper fasteners to enable joint movement

How You Will Make It
Making shadow puppets in different patterns is quite easy. Just go through the following steps and you can't go wrong!

• First, draw the desired shapes according to the plot of your show on the thick black paper. These puppets can be as creative as you want.

You can draw a bunny, a giraffe, a hippopotamus, a lion and a polar bear and take your audience on a visit to the zoo. You can draw a dragon and a princess and enact your own little fairytale.

• Once you've drawn them, cut them out using the scissors and paste them onto the cardboard.

In case your characters will be moving their limbs, cut out those body parts separately and then join them using the paper fasteners.

• Once the designs are pasted on the cardboard, cut the cardboard in the same shape.
• Then, according to the characters, paste the required extra material like the wool and string for hair or in other required places.
• Once the pasting is done, leave the puppets out to dry.
• After they dry, paste them on to the sticks/pipes, whatever you prefer.
• Your shadow puppets are ready!

You can use these together with the following tips to make the whole puppet show an experience that the kids will never forget.

• Darken the entire room for show. Only then will they be clearly visible by all.
• Use sound effects during the puppet show.
• Ask the audience to participate as well. Ask them questions like "What do you think happened next?"or "Where do you think ________ went after that?"

• If your show has more characters, it would be better if you took the help of another person to perform. One person handling too many characters can become tiresome and the show may not have the desired effect.
• Have music and songs as part of your show. Kids generally have a low attention span. Songs and music will keep them engaged.

A shadow puppet show involves the following important steps. Follow them and you'll have your audience asking for more.

• Decide the plot of the show.
• Once the plot is decided, identify the characters.
• Make them as funny as possible. Make sure they are big enough to be seen from a distance.
• Avoid complex looking characters as they will be difficult to make as shadow puppets.

• After the characters are decided, all you need is a stage, a sheet and lights!
• If you're using hand puppets, you can go all out on the stage. Make it as attractive as you can, according to the plot of your show.
• The sheet that you use should be a light-colored one, preferably a plain white one.
• As far as lights are concerned, you can experiment! You can use flashlights in some scenes and lamps in others. You can also use candles, in case your act involves a scary scene!

The great thing about these puppet patterns is that you can involve your kids in making them. So go ahead and have a blast, putting together a fantastic puppet show!