Shadow theater from the hands of simple figures. Master Class. Do-it-yourself shadow theater. A simple way to make shadow theater with your own hands


Children are great dreamers and storytellers, capable of coming up with many incredible stories, and seeing magic in every little thing. And the child will remember the opportunity to take part in the creation of a theatrical performance according to his own plot for the rest of his life. Take your time: make a shadow theater for children with your own hands - you will find stencils for the first performances and useful practical tips in our article.

Where does shadow theater come from?

The art of shadow performances originated in Asia about 1,700 years ago. It is difficult to name the exact place, but traditionally China is considered it, where to this day they honor a beautiful legend about the emergence of the first shadow theater:

Once, one of the ancient Chinese emperors had a grief - a serious illness took the life of his beloved wife. The widower was inconsolable. Forgetting about state affairs, he retired in his chambers, refused to talk with his family. Deprived of a powerful hand, a mighty empire risked falling into decay.

The situation was saved by a clever courtier, who once called the emperor to the chambers of his deceased wife to show her silhouette behind the curtain. The shocked ruler silently watched the shadow of his beloved move behind the thin screen. Such performances became a nightly tradition and gradually the emperor's melancholy let go, because he understood: death is like this thin tissue barrier, it only temporarily separated him from his beloved, and they will meet again in another life.

History is silent about the fate of the courtier, who created the first shadow theater with his own hands. But it is known for certain that such ideas quickly became popular in all social circles, and their geography for several centuries covered the whole of China, India, Turkey, and a little later Europe and Russia.

The theater of shadows has come down to our times practically unchanged: the setting of light and the mobility of graceful silhouettes are still the same. But if now it is easy to find and print simple stencils for home performances, then previously selected masters were engaged in making dolls. They made donkey skins with their own hands, from which they cut out figures. The dolls were decorated with fine painting, worked out to the smallest detail.

The puppets for the shadow theater did not differ in height, usually their height was about 30 cm. However, the complexity of the performances is striking: in one performance, up to 1000 figures were involved, controlled by puppeteers with the help of long rods. The play of light and shadow, the movement of silhouettes to music and an exciting plot: for children and adults all over the world, shadow theater remains a favorite art form. It is easy to join the beauty by printing stencils and making shadow theater with your own hands.

Benefits of shadow theater for children

The brightness and dynamics of the scenery of the shadow theater have a positive effect on the psyche of the child. But the joy of participating in the performance is far from the only plus of shadow stops, there are several more important points for the overall development:

  • The very atmosphere necessary for the show of shadow theater relaxes and adjusts for intimate communication. Twilight and the expectation of a certain sacrament - this is so similar to the gatherings around the fire, which are remembered by many;
  • The heroes of the performances have a conditional appearance, only the silhouette is determined. To understand the full picture of what is happening, you need to use your imagination;
  • Shadow theater gives the child a chance to try himself in a new role, stimulates the craving for self-expression and simplifies social adaptation;
  • The need to memorize the plot and lines trains attention and concentration. For children, participation in shadow theater performances will be a good way to replenish vocabulary, develop speech;
  • Puppet control stimulates fine motor skills, teaches to coordinate hand movements.

Of course, you should not immediately demand a lot from the kids. At first, let them master the skill of role-playing, without a plot. Let the kids play with the stenciled figurines and learn how to control and voice them. Perhaps, soon the children will have their favorite characters, which will give a new impetus to their imagination - it is always more interesting to come up with stories for impressive heroes.

Essentially, a shadow theater is a properly lit cloth screen and a set of figurines. The screen is easy to make with your own hands:

  1. Cut a wide rectangular frame from thick cardboard;
  2. Take a piece of thin white fabric, cut out a rectangle that exactly matches the outer edges of the frame;
  3. Gently stick the fabric onto the cardboard, avoiding wrinkles. The screen should be well taut. You can use ordinary PVA glue or Moment.

A thick curtain can be attached to the front of the screen to open and close it, just like in a real theater. It is important that the curtain fabric glides freely, so use a smooth synthetic cord as an attachment.

Think in advance where exactly in your house it is best to place the shadow theater in order to be able to correctly place the light. The light source should be located above and behind the screen, then only the silhouettes of the dolls will be visible on the fabric, and the puppeteer himself will remain hidden from view.

The most crucial moment is working with stencils. To make them you will need:

  • Thin cardboard;
  • Paper or plastic tubes (can be replaced with long wooden skewers);
  • Sheets of black paper;
  • Glue gun;
  • Scissors.

With some artistic skills, you can independently draw the silhouettes of the desired characters, but it is much easier and faster to use ready-made stencils. You might like our selection.

So, let's start making figurines:

Do not forget to take into account on which side of the screen this or that character will appear in the course of the action, so that the figure is turned by the profile in the desired direction.

Take care of creating the scenery - stencils for trees, houses, fences, etc. will come in handy here. The decorations are tightly attached directly to the frame, for which an elastic band is pulled along its inner side - it presses the stencil holders during the performance. If you need to increase the size of the shadow, move the doll away from the screen and the silhouette will become larger, but will lose clarity.

Do not exclude children from preparing the props - working with stencils will only whet their interest. At the same time, tell us about the history of this unusual art form. Having made a shadow theater for children with your own hands, do not rush to throw away the stencils, they will still be useful to you. Fold the blanks in a paper envelope and rather invite all the household members to an exciting performance.

There are many options for interesting leisure activities that you can organize for your little ones yourself. Of course, the most interesting ones are in which toddlers can take a direct part. These options for fun include shadow theater for children, which you can do with your own hands at home at no special cost.

How to surprise your baby with shadow?

The simplest version of playing with a child is to show on the wall shadows from the hands, with which you can depict various objects, animals or people. How to make such a shadow theater with your own hands at home - various manuals on the art of creating an image will help you figure it out. For children, do-it-yourself shadow theater templates are simple figures, examples of which are presented below:

You can make shadow shapes with your hands both on the wall and on a small screen. To do this, you need to make a rectangle out of the boards and stretch a translucent light fabric without a pattern over it. It is recommended to fix it using buttons or a furniture stapler. After that, you can start the performance: the screen is placed on the surface of the table or on a specially prepared stand, the bottom is covered with a thick cloth, the lamp is installed behind the actors, and the light is directed onto the screen. To make the baby more interesting, you can add various decorations and dolls to the images of the figures.

Shadow puppet theater

In order to make a shadow theater with characters at home with your own hands, you will need a simple set of stationery. It includes: thick cardboard, glue, scissors, thin light sticks. For a start, it is proposed to use puppets that do not move in productions. This will make it easier to learn this exquisite skill, and it will take hours to create characters. Figures for shadow theater are made by hand using templates with images. You can draw them yourself, or you can use ready-made ones. Then they are transferred to paper, cut out and assembled with glue or a stapler. Depending on what role the doll has, it can stick to the stick either from the side or from the bottom.

Making a shadow theater with your own hands out of paper is not troublesome, but very exciting. The kids will be happy to help make dolls, and after that they will stage their favorite fairy tales, and the spectators who come to visit will discuss this spectacle for a long time.

Elena Sokolovskaya

Shadow theater helps children get to know theater in a fun way. Many interesting fairy tales can be shown in shadow theater... So we decided to make our own. And for this we needed:

A shoebox that no one needs, I probably won't exaggerate if I say that there is one in every home;

Tracing paper, gray film, whatever you want;

Ice cream sticks.

First we cut out a window or a scene, then we glue our screen. I used a glue gun, but you can use any glue, the main thing is to hold it well.

Let's choose a fairy tale to be shown and draw heroes. We glue them on sticks.

And you're done!

Of course, from the beginning you need to show the children how to use it correctly. theater:)

And then they themselves are happy to show and watch a fairy tale.

In such a box with theater you can always add a fairy tale or other literary work. With such theater children develop speech, hand motor skills, imagination, children learn to coordinate their actions with partner actions. And viewers will undoubtedly enjoy watching it a lot!

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The master class is designed for children of the preparatory group of a kindergarten, for educators, teachers and parents. Appointment of a master class.

The work was carried out by the educator of the VK Gurova L. I. Kindergarten of general education type No. 48, Voronezh. Today I present to your attention a craft.

annotation:
This amazing playbook turns into a real tabletop theater, where stories are played by unusual actors - shadows.
In it you will find:
Folding shadow theater stage;
A set for cutting out silhouette images of characters and scenery for two theatrical performances, based on the works of the wonderful artist Elisabeth Boehm;
Two famous fairy tales presented in the form of plays;
New interesting ideas!

Come up with your own production! Choose a fairy tale you would like to see on stage or create your own story. Divide it into several parts (scenes), think over the dialogues of the characters. Use the decorations and silhouettes from this set, or create your own. Creating new characters is not difficult at all. If you don't have black cardboard, paint on white and then just paint over the silhouette with black paint. Try using different materials to decorate your sets or characters: feathers, lace, cloth, colored tissue paper.



Do-it-yourself shadow theater in kindergarten

Do-it-yourself shadow theater. Master class with step by step photos

Master Class. Making a manual with your own hands

Lesson topic: Master Class. Shadow theater
author: Sukhovetskaya Oksana Aleksandrovna, teacher of the speech therapy group at the Child Development Center - kindergarten № 300 "Ryabinushka", Novosibirsk.

Material description: In this master class, you will learn how to make shadow theater. Shadow theater - will help children get acquainted with the theater in a fun way, show their imagination, develop speech activity. This methodological guide will be useful for children of younger and older preschool age, as well as for school children, teachers and parents. The manual can be used both in individual work and in group work. A master class will help prepare this manual.

Material: to create a theater we need:
- the screen is ready (or you can make it yourself, I will not dwell on this in detail);
- fabric: white (tracing paper can be used), colored on the wings;
- threads to match the fabric;
- wilcro tape (linden)
- cocktail tubes;
- BBQ sticks (large);
- holniten (rivets);
- fasteners for electric wires;
- sewing hooks.

Tools for the job
:
- hammer;
- nails;
- stationery knife (cutter);
- a hole punch for a belt;
- scissors;
- press for eyelets;
- awl;
- glue gun;
- ruler;
- pencil pen;
- super-glue "Moment";
- sewing machine.
The result of the master class helps:
Stimulate children and their initiative in theatrical activities.
To develop imagination, creativity, to develop an articulatory apparatus. To form in children a persistent interest in theatrical activities, a desire to participate in a common action, to encourage children to active interaction, communication, teaches them to be able to communicate with peers and adults in various situations, to develop speech and the ability to actively build a dialogue. To develop play behavior, aesthetic feelings, the ability to be creative in any business.

“Theater is a magical world.
He gives lessons in beauty, morality
and morality.
And the richer they are, the more successful
the development of the spiritual world is underway
children ... "
(B.M. Teplov)


"Magic Land!" - this is how the great Russian poet A.S. Pushkin once called the theater. The feelings of the great poet are shared by both adults and children who have come into contact with this amazing form of art.

The theater plays a special role in solving problems related to the upbringing and development of a preschooler. Through theatrical and playful creativity, we can develop emotional responsiveness, intelligence in children, develop children's communication skills, artistry, speech activity.

In the daily life of a kindergarten, teachers use various types of theaters: bibabo, finger, tabletop, flat (flannelegraph or magnetic board), puppet, book theater, mask theater, etc.

I want to tell and show how to make a complex and at the same time very interesting shadow theater.

Shadow theater is an ancient theater. From time immemorial, shadow paintings have been shown in India, China, Java and Turkey on the street at night under the light of an oil lamp.

Props Required for this theater: a light source (for example, a headlamp, a table lamp, a filmoscope), a screen with a white screen, silhouette dolls on sticks.

At the first stage of work, for the manufacture of silhouettes, we need the following: a clerical knife (cutter), scissors, a hole punch for a belt, a press for eyelets, holniten (rivets)


Silhouettes can be prepared on the computer or drawn by yourself. I found ideas for silhouettes on the Internet, printed on a printer on ordinary A4 sheets



Then we glue the printed silhouettes on black paper. I immediately prepared the silhouettes of the characters and scenery.


Now these silhouettes need to be cut out. We cut out small internal details using a clerical knife, cut out the silhouettes themselves with scissors.


To prevent the silhouettes from bending, I laminated them. If this is not possible, you can use thick cardboard to stiffen the figures.


The next step is to cut the already laminated double-sided silhouettes.


Since I really wanted the characters (silhouettes) to have movable elements (for example, they could walk), I made separate elements for the silhouettes: arms, paws, legs.
To set them in motion, the parts must be held together in a certain way. For fastening, both wire and threads with knots at the ends are suitable. But I wanted some grace, or something. Therefore, I connected the parts using a belt hole punch and rivets.


With a hole punch for the belt, I punched even holes in the fastening points, choosing a diameter such that the rivets did not fly out and had a free play. Previously, in the places where they were fastened with an awl, I marked points, aligning the paws so that in the future they did not warp. Then I connected the rivets with a press for eyelets (this press fit the size of the rivets).



Now you need to fix the sticks on the figures, for which the puppeteers will hold them. It is important for me that the theater is compact. Therefore, my sticks will be removable. The sticks that the silhouettes will drive are barbecue sticks. Wooden, rounded shape .. Matching the size of these sticks for a cocktail with a corrugation. It is very important that the sticks in the tubes do not dangle, but sit very tightly. And we need to fix = - a glue gun.


Using scissors, cut off the part with a corrugation (accordion) at the tube, leaving the non-corrugated ends of 1.5 cm


Using a glue gun, I will attach the tubes to the silhouettes. There are two mounting options: horizontal (with corrugation), see on the wolf; vertical (just a piece of a tube 2 cm), see on a pig.


To understand in the future which mounts will be convenient for you, insert the sticks into the tubes.


Try to move the silhouettes, play with them. Basically, I liked both mounts. At the same time, I realized for which silhouettes I would use only the vertical mount, and for which I would use the horizontal one.


The silhouette figures are ready. Now let's get into the decorations. We already prepared the base when we pasted the silhouettes of the scenery on black paper, cut out, laminated and cut out again. Now we need to strengthen the silhouettes and at the same time make a system for attaching to the screen. We glue the barbecue sticks to the silhouettes on the glue gun with the pointed end down.



To make full use of our prepared silhouettes, we will alert the screen. Fortunately for me, we had such a screen on our group.


We will make the main design changes inside the screen.


We need simple tools:


On the bottom strip of the window, we mark the places for the plastic fasteners.


We will fasten plastic fasteners with nails (these fasteners are usually used in electricians, for fixing wires to the walls), at the same time we will try on how the sticks from the decorations will come in. The mountings must be fixed firmly, not loose, otherwise all of our decorations will not be positioned correctly.


We will fix sewing hooks on the upper window strip using the "Moment" super-glue. We need them to place such decorations as clouds, sun, moon, birds on them. We attach a wilcro (linden) tape under the hooks. It is better to attach it to a furniture stick so that it does not come off.


We will also fix the wilcro tape on the lower bar above the decoration mounts.


From the outside, all this even looks interesting. The versatility of the manipulations carried out is that all these mounts can be used not only for the shadow theater, but also for playing any other puppet show.



We will attach a white screen to the wilcro tape. We will make the screen from a piece of white coarse calico. Using a measuring tape, measure the width and height of the window. (tracing paper can be used instead of fabric, unfortunately it is less reliable)


Cut out a rectangular piece, carefully process the edges. Sew on the top and bottom of the wilcro tape - its second half.


The screen can now be placed on the screen. It will be held taut on the wilcro belt.



Outwardly, the screen seemed boring to me. Therefore, I decided to transform it. Curtain-curtains will decorate our theater.


Sew a pelmet from a narrow rectangular strip of fabric. Lambrequin will close the upper crossbar of the window.



Rectangles with trimmed edges will make a two-piece curtain. Both parts on the sides can be assembled. You can make a removable fibula so that the curtain can completely cover the window or be open unhindered.
With self-adhesive tape to match our curtain, I pasted over the lower part of the screen.


For comparison: what was and what became
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