This summer my Dutch-American daughter Sara married the love of her life in a Dutch little castle close to where Ken grew up. Having helped out with shadow puppetry workshops since she was young, Sara
Helene is the founder of Past Times and a crafter, archivist, and children’s book author. Her passion is bringing history to life for children, classrooms, and families through imagination and play.
Family history
How to make shadow puppets of family members
Research shows that sharing family stories is just as important as reading to children and benefits them in multiple ways (see Further Reading). In this tutorial I will show how you can act out family
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How to
Adding a scrolling background to a shadow puppetry screen
In the days when I worked with an overhead projector for shadow puppetry, I used transparent film on a rolling rack to have a moving background for travel. I truly missed this possibility when I starting to
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Black history
Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad with shadow puppets
Shadow puppetry is a great tool to engage children with stories from the Underground Railroad–the network of free Blacks, Quakers, and abolitionists who helped people enslaved in the South escape to the North in the
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How to
A step-by-step guide to making a shadow puppet from templates
In this tutorial you will learn how to make a shadow puppet using the “mix-and-match” templates in our Printable Library. These templates are designed to make puppets in 19th clothes, but can easily be adjusted
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How to
How to make a portable shadow screen for classrooms
So far I have posted instructions for desk top shadow puppetry screens (made of a box or a tri-fold presentation board), as well as larger screens to use with overhead projectors. Over the last weeks I
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Folk and fairy tales
Damsels and Dragons
One of my earliest shadow puppets was Sir James, inspired by a dear friend whom I liked to tease with his notions about chivalry and gender roles. Dreaming of rescuing damsels in distress, Sir James
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How to
How to Make a Puppet of a Historical Figure: Martin Luther King
During Black History Month our shadow puppetry tutorials feature important figures in African-American history. Today we will be honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King and showing you how to make a shadow puppet
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Black history
Sojourner Truth’s Ain’t I A Woman: Teaching History with Shadow Puppets
In my last post I shared how to make a front-facing shadow puppet of Aretha Franklin that can sing. In this post I will show you how to make a side-facing puppet of the celebrated