Learning some hand shadow puppets

The internet is useful for for finding ideas for this. Over the year we managed dogs, goats, birds, snails and swans among others. I can’t say we perfected the technique but we got started. I suspect the knack is to nail a few and practice them regularly. And also not worrying too much and just mucking about and seeing what you find.

School yard shadows

One of my favourite days last year was when I took a cardboard sign up to the school at pick up. B was going through a stage of wanting to linger at the school gates to see her friends a bit longer. Suddenly a group of kids and a grandad were all showing off their shadow puppets in the shadow on the wall. I wish I’d brought more cardboard and got them to make things to try.

Having fun with torches…

You don’t need a sunny day. This was one of our best things to do after school in the dark in the winter. It was even better in the fog. You can play with getting long shadows and short shadows, creepy shadows and funny shadows. Practice shining the torch in different places and see what shadows you get.

Playing with indoor rainbows

There’s a spot in my mum’s flat where the winter sun hits the side of the glass balcony and makes a little rainbow. It’s the best fun. When it arrives it’s like the return of an old familiar fabulous friend. As well as putting things in it to see it turn rainbow (feet, hands, bits of paper), you can try and track where it’s coming from and see how the colours change if you move a piece of white paper along it.

Making a shadow picture

We have a sash window which catches the winter sun. We worked out that, at around 3pm in November, it shines through and makes a window picture on the wall. You’ve got about ten minutes to run around the house and find things to make a picture out of, and then sit them on the middle of the sash… take too long though, and it’s gone.

Make a sundial

Surprisingly easy to do this. We just got a plant pot, filled it with stones and stuck a stick in it at an angle. The tricky bits were a) finding a really sunny day to do it and b) finding somewhere to put it with uninterrupted sun where it wouldn’t get knocked over. We then visited it every hour and placed a stone where the shadow was.

Chalking round the plant shadows

Head out in the sun and look for an interesting shadow. Then chalk round it. If it’s in the garden or near your house you can keep watching and see how long it takes for the shadow to move on.

For a more advanced version, get someone to pose for you and draw their outline.

Making lanterns

Decorating the sides of a lantern with leaves and seeing what shadows you can make.

If you’re feeling creative try cutting the leaves into different shapes, or using paper. What sort of shape makes the best shadow? Can you use it to make a story? What if you try different types of light behind it.

Walking the shadows

A brilliant one for hot sunny days. Walking from shadow to shadow. Make up your own rules for how to negotiate any non shadowy bits! We’ve played it so that you lose a point every time you lose the shadow, or that you have to get to another shadow before the other player has counted to 3.

Making shadow theatre

I suspect the most exciting bit is finding a location where this suddenly happens. We had it when camping. We suddenly realised the light in the tent was making a perfect stage. B put on a brilliant show. Torches are wonderful things.

If you want to invest in it, you can make shadow puppets and props and even make the right location. Or have the fun of doing it in passing and practicing those hand puppets.