Shadow theater for children usually means not only a theater with puppets, but also images of animal shadows using hands. Parents can amaze their child with animated pictures on the simplest wall.
History of shadow theater
Shadow theater is an art that originated many centuries ago. The richest and most famous were fond of it, because the puppets were made by hand from thin, well-dressed camel skin. Openwork dolls, animals and birds, painted by masters in all the colors of the rainbow, were expensive.
It was only in the 17th century that the French realized that the mystery of shadow theater, depicting unprecedented figures with their own hands, especially captivated children, so this art spread in just a couple of years in the form of a real role-playing game.
DIY animal shadows
Organizing a shadow theater at home couldn't be easier! There is nothing complicated about animal shadows; most often, just two hands are enough to see a bunny, dog or bird.
So, how to make eyeshadow with your own hands?
- You will need a light wall or any large object, hung with a white sheet;
- Sunlight or light from a bright lamp should shine directly on the wall, not from the side;
- Approach the wall so that your own shadow does not fall directly on the wall;
- Fold your hands as shown in any of the pictures.
You can also bring animal shadows to life with your own hands! Move your fingers and your bunny will fold his ears and the bird will fly. Teach your child to draw shadows of animals; this will develop the baby’s motor skills and spatial thinking.
Shadow theater is an ancient, very spectacular and amazing (especially for children) art form. How to make a screen and “actors” for a shadow theater with your own hands; how to come up with and provide for the most spectacular and surprising moments of the performance; how to involve children in rehearsals and staging shadow theater performances - answers to all these questions can easily be found in the publications of this thematic section. Here is collected the living experience of teachers in the field of this type theatrical arts, which contains great opportunities for comprehensive development children.
Shadow theater. Mysterious shadows on a magical canvas.
Contained in sections:Showing publications 1-10 of 129.
All sections | DIY shadow theater
Notes on speech development in the second junior group “Shadow Theatre” Lesson summary on speech development in 2 younger group Educator: 0lga Uryupina Summary of GCD in the second junior group “Walk with the Mouse in an unusual « Theater - shadows» Educational area "Artistically - aesthetic development» The type of children's activity is cognitive,...
Project “Shadow Theater for Preschoolers” Theater shadow&;#769;th - form visual arts, which originated in China over 1700 years ago. Shadow theater uses a large translucent screen and flat colored puppets operated on thin sticks. The puppets lean against the screen from behind and become visible....
Do-it-yourself shadow theater - Summary of the lesson “Introducing the shadow theater” in the second junior group
Publication “Summary of the lesson “Acquaintance with the shadow theater” in the second junior ...” Goal: Development of creative abilities through theatrical activities. Objectives: -Introduce children to shadow theater; -Teach children to dramatize the simplest fairy tale using table theater; -Develop a sense of beauty and love for the theater. Materials and equipment:...
Image library "MAAM-pictures"
Templates. We cut out characters from cardboard and attach sticks to them. Let's remember the fairy tale. We set up the stage, turn on the lights and music. We put on a show. If there are a lot of spectators, you can distribute tickets. TURNIP Russian folk tale Grandfather planted a turnip and said: - Grow, grow...
New well-forgotten old Theatrical activity develops the child’s personality, instills a sustainable interest in literature and theater, improves the skill of embodying certain experiences in play, and encourages the creation of new images. The shadow is of great interest to children...
Theatrical activities in kindergarten- This magical world fairy tales Exactly theatrical activity V to a greater extent allows you to develop creativity child, develops children's aesthetic senses, artistic perception. That is why teachers, as part of...
Do-it-yourself shadow theater - Theatrical and gaming leisure in the form of the shadow theater “Under the Mushroom” in the younger group
“Under the mushroom” Theatrical and gaming leisure ( shadow theater) in the younger group Goal: to arouse interest in the shadow theater performance, positive emotions in the process of theatrical and gaming activities. Materials and equipment: bell, screen, lamp or slide projector, cardboard figures and...
Fairy tale “Turnip” Grandfather planted a turnip and the turnip grew big and big. The grandfather began to pull the turnip out of the ground. He pulls and pulls, but he can’t pull it out. The grandfather called the grandmother for help. Grandma for grandfather, grandfather for turnip. They pull and pull, but they can’t pull it out. The grandmother called her granddaughter. Granddaughter for grandma, grandma for...
In order to look theatrical performance of light and shadow, it is not necessary to go to a real theater. All this can be done at home using available materials. Home shadow theater - exciting 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 is needed for home theater shadows?
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 laid out shoe box and pull a sheet over a bunk bed. The small “stage” is suitable for simple finger performances, and if you want to prepare a real puppet show– it’s 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 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 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, not from the side, and the lamp should not be close, but two 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.
For a long time, my daughter and I dreamed of organizing a home shadow theater. Before that, we often fantasized about this topic, playing with shadows on the wall, but we wanted to create a real theater with a screen, figures of heroes prepared in advance, a script and, of course, present it to the audience. And finally, the child inspired me to create. Creating a shadow theater with your own hands turned out to be very simple.
To create a home shadow theater you will need:
- large box for stage/screen frame (eg candy box);
- tracing paper or a piece of white canvas to create a screen;
- tape (regular and double-sided);
- fabric for creating a curtain (velor);
- felt or colored paper;
- twine, thread, needle;
- stickers for stage decoration;
- cardboard for figures;
- skewers for figurines;
- scissors.
How to make a shadow theater?
Let's start creating the scene frame. Cut out the middle from the bottom of the box, leaving about 1.5-2 centimeters at the edges.
Glue with reverse side tracing paper on double-sided tape. If fabric is used, it can be sewn on - of course, the work in this case will be more painstaking. That's why I preferred to take tracing paper.
The stage-screen for the shadow theater is ready. In fact, it can already be used in practice by installing it on the edge of the table.
But, of course, a decorated stage will look much more beautiful. To decorate it, I used velor fabric (top “curtain”), felt, and stickers. I stitched a long piece of fabric on all sides with a hidden seam so that the velor would not fray, threaded a string on the top side and tightened it to form “ruffles”. I secured the curtain with stationery needles - securely and quickly. If desired, such a curtain can be sewn on. I decorated the sides of the stage and its bottom with felt and decorated it with flower stickers.
All that remains is to choose a script and cut out the characters according to it. We decided not to stop at banal turnips and koloboks, but to come up with a scenario ourselves. Together with my daughter we came up with simple story about fairies, we found the necessary templates on the Internet, printed them out, transferred the templates to thick cardboard and cut out the figures. Stick holders (cooking skewers) were glued to the figures using tape.
We are preparing everything for the premiere of the home shadow theater. We set up the stage on the edge of the table, placed a stool under the screen, on which we installed a lamp and laid out the figures. They assigned roles, who plays which figure, who says what words. Accordingly, my figures lay on my side of the chair, and my daughter’s figures lay on hers. We turn off the overhead light, turn on the lamp, and direct its light from below to the center of the screen. The show begins!
DIY home theater for children (video)
The home theater was made by Victoria and Dasha Alogin with their own hands
Photo from personal archive. Copying prohibited
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;
Set for cutting out silhouette images of characters and scenery for two theatrical productions, created based on the works wonderful artist Elizaveta Boehm;
Two famous fairy tales, presented in the form of 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.
