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Resources and Activities to Make History Come Alive

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  • Greek mythology

    How to act out Heracles’ labors using your own imagination

    October 23, 2020October 29, 2020

    In our post about acting out Greek myths we have touched upon the heroes Perseus and Theseus. The most popular hero however (as seen in Greek art) was Heracles, often known for his Roman name Hercules.

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  • two screens in the shape of Greek pots with shadow puppets of Greek gods and goddesses

    Greek mythology

    Making a pot-shaped screen

    September 10, 2020September 11, 2020

    One of my most-read blog posts is about using an overhead projector for shadow puppetry, which is full of fun tricks that may be used when teaching Greek myths in the classroom. But you don’t

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  • Silhouette puppet of a wolf with movable jaw, front and back

    How to

    How to make puppet rods with duct or painters tape

    March 23, 2020March 24, 2020

    In this instructional video I am showing you how to make a silhouette or shadow puppet using a cheap and sturdy alternative for rods that are attached to the puppets with velcro. The instructions are

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  • Small shadow puppets holding hands and embracing with wedding cake

    Family history

    How to make a wedding cake topper using profile silhouettes

    August 21, 2019September 26, 2019

    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

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  • Children seen on the back acting out a shadow puppetry scene with transparent scrolling background

    How to

    Adding a scrolling background to a shadow puppetry screen

    June 3, 2019February 5, 2020

    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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  • Instructions how to mount and ove shadow puppets and props

    How to

    A step-by-step guide to making a shadow puppet from templates

    April 30, 2019October 29, 2020

    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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  • Inside of a shadow puppetry screen with puppets from the story of Henry Box Brown

    How to

    How to make a portable shadow screen for classrooms

    March 11, 2019July 12, 2019

    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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  • Shadow puppet of Martin Luther King

    How to

    How to Make a Puppet of a Historical Figure: Martin Luther King

    February 7, 2019July 13, 2019

    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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  • Shadow puppet of Sojourner Truth speech

    Black history

    Sojourner Truth’s Ain’t I A Woman: Teaching History with Shadow Puppets

    February 1, 2019August 27, 2020

    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

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