Shadow puppetry offers opportunities to act out stories from the Underground Railroad, the network of free Blacks, Quakers, and abolitionists who helped men, women, and children escape slavery in the decades prior to the Civil
American history
A teacher’s “hard history” project continued from home
In the past two years I have been fortunate to work with 5th grade teacher Davie-Lyn Jones. We explored shadow puppetry as an interactive way to teach about the “hard history” topic of slavery, using
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Black history
The story of Henry “Box” Brown
An earlier version was published on March 23, 2019 On March 23, 1849, months after his wife and children were sold to a new owner, Henry Brown escaped slavery in Richmond, Virginia in a wooden
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Tricks and Techniques
Riding a horse and wagon
If you want to act out stories from the Underground Railroad or other stories in which puppets need transportation, you may want to use a horse and wagon. In our printable library you will find
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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