Shadow Puppet Show

Materials

• large shadow theater (see Large Shadow Theater learning center)
• puppets children made earlier or on other days
• camera or video recorder
• timer (optional)

Key Science Concepts

• You can make shadows with your body and other objects.
• A shadow shows the shape of an object, but it doesn’t show colors or many other details.
• You can change the shape of a shadow by moving and turning your body or the object making the shadow or by moving the light source.

Vocabulary

Encourage children to use vocabulary related to shadows like light, shine, outline, shape, solid, dark, performance, audience, and shadow puppet. Emphasize science process words like describe, compare, notice, and observe.

Directions

Tell children to get ready to put on a puppet show! (You may want to invite parents to attend the show. If they can’t make your show time, encourage their child to put on a little show for them at pick-up.)

1. Have the performers (either individual children or groupings of children) put on their puppet shows.
2. To make sure everyone has a chance to perform, you might set a timer that goes off after two or three minutes, a signal to encourage children to wrap up their plays.
3. Document the children’s shadow puppet shows by videotaping them.

Reflect and Share

Gather children to reflect on their shadow puppet shows. Ask,

• How did you use the shadow puppets to tell a story? What things could you make your puppet’s shadow do?
• What do you wish your shadow puppet could do that it couldn’t?
• What’s the difference between using shadow puppets and regular puppets? What can you do with shadow puppets that you can’t do with regular puppets? What can you do with regular puppets that you can’t do with shadow puppets?