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Past Times History

Resources & Activities to Make History Come Alive

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  • Puppet of Rosa Parks sitting next to Rosa Parks in bus

    How to

    Historical puppets for language arts

    January 24, 2023February 3, 2023

    Many posts on this site have been about using silhouette puppets to engage with history by acting out stories. However, they can also be great for language arts, allowing students to interact with a historical

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  • Bible stories

    Cardboard creche

    December 24, 2022December 25, 2022

    In the weeks leading up to Christmas I have shown how to use corrugated cardboard for a Nativity display stand and stop motion films. In this post I am sharing instructions how to make a

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  • Silhouette puppets showing a man holding the reigns of a horse, which pulls a covered wagon with a woman on the front seat holding a little child.

    American history

    Local history tableaus

    October 5, 2022February 3, 2023

    There are 22 places in the United States that are called Lawrence. But only one of them got that name because the original one, Maidenhead, was thought to be too embarrassing for ladies. On the

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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, 2019February 19, 2023

    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, 2019February 3, 2023

    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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