On January 20, 2009, legendary “Queen of Soul” Aretha Franklin sang “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” at Barack Obama’s first inauguration, with a hat that became just as memorable as the performance. Ten years later,
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.
Folk and fairy tales
Wolf stories
Everybody knows the stories of Little Red Riding Hood and the Three Little Pigs. But do you the story of the Seven Young Kids (or Little Goats), who were similarly tricked? As you can read
Read More
Greek mythology
Using an Overhead Projector for Shadow Puppetry
If you are doing a shadow puppetry performance for larger audiences, using an overhead projector as the light source has several advantages. The light is stronger than traditional lamps and is distributed more evenly over
Read More
Tricks and Techniques
Going Bigger: Using Masks and Direct Projection
If you are using an overhead projector and big screen and want to have some variety in size (for instance to emphasize the difference between gods and mortals) there are two ways of doing so.
Read More
How to
Using a Tri-fold Presentation Board for a Durable Screen
If you are thinking of doing shadow puppetry more than a handful of times you may want to invest in a durable frame that can be stored easily and will withstand stains and humidity. One
Read More
How to
How to Make a Shadow Puppet Theater from a Box
If you want to use a box as your shadow puppet theater, the size of the screen will depend on the size of the box that you use. For puppets the size of about 10″
Read More
How to
Using Bendable Straws for Puppet Rods
Instead of using velcro to connect moving rods to a puppet a cheap alternative is the use use bendable straws, first introduced by David and Donna Wisniewski in Worlds of Shadow, Teaching with Shadow Puppetry. You can
Read More
How to
Using a Big Screen
If you want to do shadow puppetry as a class project or for a performance, you need a larger screen and puppets that are big enough to be seen well by the audience (12″-15″). The
Read More
Dutch heritage
Dutch “Sand Cookies”
Did you know that the English word “cookie” is derived from the Dutch word “koekje?” (hear the pronunciation). The history goes al the way back to 17th century, when the Dutch had a colony on