Shadow Puppetry

Resources you will need:

A section of Card
Lots of Tape
Cocktail sticks of varying sizes
A selection of Paper
A handful of pens

Aim

To allow young people to create and tell their own stories in a safe space through external metaphor and imagery

Instructions


  1. Share the story of the Hare and the Tortoise and discuss people’s reactions to it. What is the main message in the story? Determination? Positivity? How did the story connect with people and how did it make them feel?

  2. Using this as a basis, ask your young people to write down as many well-known lessons highlighted in popular stories they know of.

  3. Put the young people into small groups and ask them to choose one of the lessons they feel most strongly about.

  4. Now ask the groups to create and draw 6 images that tell the story of their chosen message.

  5. Break the story into a range of characters. Each member of the group can pick one of these characters and create shadow puppets to tell the story. Watch a short video here on how to make a shadow puppet.

  6. Set up a torch to face a white sheet. It works best with a projector and a white sheet

  7. Tell the story and evaluate experience following this.

What we learnt

Creating space behind the white sheet is very important.
Making the shadow puppets simple is the most important aspect. It is a good idea to have a couple of examples for the group first.
Spread the challenge over two sessions in order not to rush it.
Enjoy the conversations as the making is occurring, these are important moments that can be used to unpick the actions.

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