Shadow theater different figures. Home magic: do-it-yourself shadow theater

annotation:
This amazing game book turns into a real tabletop theater, where stories are played out by unusual actors - shadows.
In it you will find:
Folding shadow theater stage;
A set to cut out silhouettes of characters and scenery for two theatrical productions, created based on the work of the wonderful artist Elisabeth Böhm;
Two well-known fairy tales presented as plays;
New interesting ideas!

Come up with your own production! Choose a fairy tale that you would like to see on stage or come up with 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, draw on white and then just paint over the silhouette with black paint. Try using different materials to decorate your scenery or characters: feathers, lace, cloth, colored tissue paper.

Shadow theater is an art that originated somewhere in the ancient civilizations of India and China more than 1700 years ago. The legend tells that the gods themselves, walking on the Earth, saw pretty dolls in the window of the workshop and decided to play with them. The figures, as if alive, spun in a dance, fluttered like moths, casting bizarre shadows.

This magical dance was secretly spied on by the master. He really wanted to repeat the amazing dance. And then he attached barely noticeable threads to the pupae and gave them a new life.

Let's fast forward to that distant time and arrange a fabulous performance filled with shadow and light, goodness and magic.

You will need:

cardboard box,
white parchment,
black cardboard,
markers,
scissors, stationery knife,
adhesive tape,
hot glue,
barbecue sticks,
desk lamp.

First, let's create a scene. It can be made in the form of a window, a castle, a fabulous tent and even a detached house. It all depends on the size of the box and your imagination.

Let's use the simplest option. Let's make a stage for the performance in the form of a window.

1. Cut out the bottom of the box and glue it with parchment. Secure the edges of the parchment with duct tape.

2. Make shutters from the rest of the box. Draw with markers.

Great! Half done!

And here's another version of the screen:

Well, now, so that our stage is not empty, fill it with bright characters. And, of course, I'm not talking about color (dolls can be made black). The silhouette of each hero should reflect his characteristic features of appearance and character.

3. Cut out cardboard figures of animals, trees, houses, your favorite cartoon characters.

4. Glue with hot glue to a barbecue stick.

5. Illuminate the box with a table lamp, and you can play.

Where does shadow theater come from?

The art of shadow performances originated in Asia about 1700 years ago. It is difficult to name the exact place, but traditionally it is China, 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 claimed the life of his beloved wife. The widower was inconsolable. Forgetting about state affairs, he secluded himself in his chambers, refusing to talk to his relatives. Deprived of a powerful hand, a mighty empire was in danger of falling into decline.

The situation was saved by a smart 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 a thin screen. Such performances became a nightly tradition and the emperor gradually let go of longing, because he realized that death is like this thin tissue barrier, it only temporarily separated him from his beloved, and they would 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 performances quickly became popular in all social circles, and their geography over several centuries covered all of China, India, Turkey, and a little later Europe and Russia.

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

Puppets for the shadow theater did not differ in large growth, usually their height was about 30 cm. However, the complexity of the productions is amazing: up to 1000 figures were involved in one performance, controlled by puppeteers with long rods. The play of light and shadow, the movement of silhouettes to music and a captivating story: for children and adults around the world, shadow theater remains a favorite art form. It is easy to join the beautiful by printing stencils and making a shadow theater with your own hands.

The benefits of shadow theater for children

The brightness and dynamics of the shadow theater scenery have a positive effect on the child's psyche. 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 atmosphere itself, necessary for showing shadow theater, relaxes and sets you up for intimate communication. The twilight and the expectation of a certain sacrament - this is so similar to the gatherings around the fire that many people remember;
The heroes of the productions have a conditional appearance, only the silhouette is determined. To understand the full picture of what is happening, you need to use the 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 role-playing skill itself, without a plot. Let the kids play with the stenciled figurines, learn how to control and voice them. Perhaps soon the children will have favorite characters, which will give a new impetus to fantasy - it is always more interesting to come up with stories for impressing characters.

In essence, the shadow theater is a correctly lit fabric screen and a set of figures. The screen is easy to make with your own hands:

Cut out a wide rectangular frame from thick cardboard;
Take a piece of thin white fabric, cut out a rectangle exactly the same size as the outer edges of the frame;
Carefully stick the fabric on the cardboard, avoiding the appearance of wrinkles. The screen must be tight. You can use regular PVA glue or Moment.

On the front side of the screen, you can attach a curtain made of dense material to open and close it, just like in a real theater. It is important that the curtain fabric slides freely, so use a smooth synthetic cord as a fastener.

Think in advance where exactly in your house it is best to place the shadow theater in order to be able to correctly set the light. The light source should be above and behind the screen, then only the silhouettes of the puppets 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 straws (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 figures:

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

Take care of creating decorations - stencils of trees, houses, fences, etc. will come in handy here. The scenery is tightly attached directly to the frame, for which an elastic band is pulled along its inside - 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 lose clarity.

Do not keep children away from preparing props - working with stencils will only warm up 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 stencils, they will still be useful to you. Fold the blanks into a paper envelope and invite all the household members to a fascinating performance.

Shadow theater is magic that can live in your home. You can create it for a child with your own hands.

What we need:

Thick cardboard
White paper
PVA glue
brushes for glue and paint
scissors
steel wire 2 mm
wire cutters and round nose pliers
wooden slats approx. 1.5 x 1 cm
Fiberboard approx. 14 X 30 X 40 cm
screws
wallpaper nails
dye
white fabric (cotton) without pattern
tube for cocktail
insulating tape
overhead projector (lantern, table lamp)
templates (you can take ready-made, or you can draw it yourself)

Draw or print templates for puppets and decorations.

Puppets for shadow theater can be small in size - about 5-10 cm, and during the performance, the height of the characters can be changed by bringing the figure closer to the screen or, conversely, moving it away.

Glue the template sheets onto cardboard. Try to lubricate the template with glue without gaps, but not too abundantly - the part should sit tight and not warp the cardboard base.

Dry the dolls under pressure and cover them with a layer of PVA glue - for strength. The brush should be semi-dry so that the figures do not warp.

Cardboard dolls are not easy to cut, especially in places where there are inside or outside corners. Instead of scissors, it is convenient to use a clerical knife.

If you have golden hands and a lot of patience, you can cut out the kennels of the face, eyes and small details inside the dolls with a clerical knife. If you glue transparent tracing paper on the figures, they will sparkle with different shades of black and gray. You can also use transparent color film to add color.

To make movable dolls, you need to separately draw and cut out the arms, legs and other details that can move. Dynamic parts rotate on screws or wire, each of which is attached to a wire holder for control.

If the dolls are still warped, put them under pressure for a few days.

Holders for dolls and decorations can be made removable - for convenience. Glue paper pockets on the back of the dolls. They should be slightly curved outward so that the holder's loop slides in easily.

The most suitable material is wire. On both sides of the piece of wire, make rings - one for the pocket on the “back” of the doll, the other so that the holder does not scroll in your hands. We got holders 13 cm long for dolls. Holders for decorations turned out to be 5 cm long and with rings on one side only. The diameter of the rings is 1 cm.

If you don't have wire, glue on popsicle sticks - this is a quick option for doll holders. But he has a drawback - the sticks coarsen and spoil the silhouette of the dolls during the performance.

You can make typical dolls (grandfather, grandmother, granddaughter, animals) and use them in different performances. If you want to put on a new performance, you will only have to make the missing heroes. It is advisable to arrange the sets of heroes for different fairy tales according to signed envelopes.

The screen for the performance is wooden or cardboard. You can even use a picture frame instead of a screen.

A cardboard screen is easier to make and decorate, but less durable.

It is not necessary to make the screen traditionally rectangular. If you are seriously interested in the shadow theater, then you can make a whole set of scenery screens in the form of a castle, a forest, a hut ...

Our screen is made of wooden slats. Its dimensions are:

total height - 45 cm
the height of the "camouflage" fiberboard - 15 cm
screen height - 30 cm
frame width - 50 cm
the length of the supports (legs) for the frame is 25 cm.

The frame needs to be painted, and the bottom of the frame can be decorated with a plot picture.

A favorite theme for screen design is the starry sky. For our theater, we beat the plot of the fairy tale about the golden key. We made decorations from silver-colored insulating tape.

For strength, parts can be coated with PVA glue or varnish.

The screen is covered with a cloth. To measure the fabric correctly, trace the frame directly onto the fabric and cut out a rectangle, leaving a little distance from the edge (about 1 cm around the perimeter).

On the reverse side of the lower rail of the screen, grooves for decoration holders are glued. We used a cocktail tube cut into pieces about 3 cm long.

We stretch the fabric and attach it with wallpaper studs. The more evenly the canvas is stretched, the clearer the contours of the figures will be.

Behind the screen, at a distance of about 25 cm, a light source is installed - a flashlight, a slide projector or a table lamp.

The direction of the light is from above and behind, so the hands of the puppeteer will be invisible, and the shadows will be the most clear. The hands of the puppeteer are between the screen and the light source, and the puppeteer himself is located behind the light.

Tips for the puppeteer

For the first performances, choose simple stories from folk tales.
Rehearse well and learn the secrets of the shadow theater before giving a performance.
If you want the doll or decoration to disappear or appear imperceptibly, turn it edge-on to the screen and move it.
Arrange the puppets in order, and then during the performance the audience will not have to wait long for the “artist” to come out.
Play appropriate music during the performance.
Voice each doll with "her" voice.
By moving the light source, you will achieve various effects - depict wind, storm or snow.
Shadow theater can be played wherever there is bright light and a level wall. Instead of dolls - finger figurines.

Children fall in love with the shadow theater immediately. At first they enthusiastically watch performances, and then they begin to invent the plot themselves. Let, regardless of whether the child has directing abilities or not, at home he is always waiting for a standing ovation.

Under the shadow theater for children is usually understood not only the theater with puppets, but also the images of the shadows of animals with the help of hands. Parents can impress their child with animated pictures on the simplest wall.

History of shadow theater

Shadow theater is an art that originated many centuries ago. The richest and most eminent were fond of him, because the puppets were made by hand from fine, well-dressed camel skin. Openwork dolls, animals and birds, painted by masters in all colors of the rainbow, were expensive.

And only in the 17th century, the French realized that the mystery of the shadow theater, depicting unprecedented figures with their own hands, especially captures children, so this art has spread in just a couple of years in the form of a real role-playing game.

Do-it-yourself animal shadows

Organizing a shadow theater at home is as easy as shelling pears! There is nothing complicated in the shadows of animals, most often just two hands are enough to see a bunny, a dog or a bird.

So, how to make shadows with your own hands?

You will need a light wall or any large object hung with a white sheet;
Sunlight or light from a bright lamp should shine directly on the wall, and not from the side;
Approach the wall in such a way that your own shadow does not fall directly on the wall;
Fold your arms as shown in any of the drawings.

Do-it-yourself animal shadows can also be revived! Wiggle your fingers and your bunny will fold its ears and your bird will fly. Teach your child to draw the shadows of animals, this will develop the baby's motor skills and his spatial thinking.