Start the year off with a fun, hands-on activity with LIGHTS! How to make shadow puppets is an easy-to-make, fun-to-do activity that combines fine motor, math, science, and play with basic supplies from your cupboards.
How to Make Shadow Puppets: Play and Learn with Lights
Learning Objective for Shadow Puppets: Investigate the properties of shadows.
Materials Needed to Make Shadow Puppets
- Colored paper
- Scissors
- Hole punch
- Pencil or craft stick
- Tape
- Flashlight
How to Make Shadow Puppets
- Cut several numbers or shapes out of the paper. We used 3-inch numbers for math play and learning too.
- Allow the child to hole-punch dots throughout the numbers. The use of a hole punch will help strengthen fine motor muscles in hands and create a really neat effect when the light is shown on the shadow puppet figures.
- Tape the numbers to a pencil or craft stick.
- In a dark room, shine the flashlight on the numbers. Explore what happens when the shadow puppet moves closer and further from the light source.
- Discuss the attributes or properties of shadows.
Teacher Tips:
A Shadow is a silhouette or an outline of a shape.
The shadow puppet blocks the light and creates a silhouette of the shape on the wall.
Shadows do not have a color or show details within the figure.
Shadows outdoors can demonstrate the time of day.
For MORE Hands-on Light Theme Play and Learn Activities:
- Matching ABCs Lights Activity by Mom Inspired Life
- Abc Christmas Lights by Powerful Mothering
- Making Books: Colored Lights by Growing Book
- 5+ Christmas Lights Math Activities for Preschoolers by LIfe Over C’s
- Christmas Lights Activities for Preschool: Pony Bead Counting Sticks by The Preschool Toolbox
- Lights on the Tree Sensory Play by Fun-A-Day!
- Scented Fingerprint Christmas Lights by Learning 2 Walk
- Make a Light Bulb Model by Capri + 3
- How to Make Shadow Puppets: Play and Learn with Lights by The Educators’ Spin On It (HERE)
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This is such a great idea! Puppets, light, and shadows…what could be more fun!:)
This would be a fun thing for us to do with our preschoolers to ring in the New Year.
This could be used for a lot of math fun too! Hold one number up and then find that same number of objects to shine on the wall too. What a fun activity for New Year's Eve!
Agreed! My 8 year old picked up 2 numbers and practiced her multiplication facts on the ceiling!
Great idea!