Some of my favorite moments with my kids or friends or hubby are at night, after a long day when everyone’s ready to wind down and just reflect on things. I think this is one reason stargazing is always a little magical. The kids and hubby and I tried a new evening activity this weekend that turned out to be a huge hit. I made a homemade shadow-puppet theater and we put on a show.

The lights went down and we strung our theater between two chairs. My daughter put on most of the show, because my son was just mesmerized by it all. We started trying out new puppets to see what kind of shadows they cast, and once we got going there was no stopping us. The possibilities were endless (see our animal cracker puppets below). Quite the perfect venue for open play.

A pretty ballerina for the girl and bloodthirsty werewolf for the boy.

We’re planning to try our theater again tonight. We’re in the middle of “cousin camp,” and we’re thinking this will be great for re-creating some good family stories. A theater like this would make a fantastic holiday gift for a whole family, too. And a pretty affordable one. I think I spent a whopping $5 on supplies.

Supplies:
Freezer paper
Elmer’s Glue
Masking tape
Some kind of paint that will be permanent on fabric, like textile paint or acrylic
A sponge brayer for applying paint
Fabric that will let a little light through, I used a half yard of muslin
Tulle (optional)

Start by cutting the shape of the theater opening out of freezer paper (this is also good for Tshirts, check out this tutorial).

Lightly iron the freezer paper, waxy side down, onto the fabric.

Now comes the fun part. Use your Elmer’s glue to squeeze out some fun architectural features (I sketched mine in pencil first). This is sort of the batik method. Anywhere you put Elmer’s glue will be free of paint. I kept a paintbrush handy for smoothing out blobbie spots.

Allow the glue to dry.

Tape off any other areas you don’t want painted. Then, using your brayer, apply paint as evenly as possible.

Allow the paint to dry according to package directions. I left mine overnight just to be safe.

It’s time to see the results of your work. Pull away the freezer paper, then gently place the fabric in a tub of water and allow it to soak for an hour or two to soften the glue.

Pull it out and into the sink, and gently rub away the glue under running water. Take care not to rub the unpainted fabric against the painted fabric.

Admire your results while you allow your theater to dry.

I decided to add a few curtains, for extra dramatic effect. To be honest, this took a bit of time. I wouldn’t recommend  it unless you plan on this thing being passed down through at least two generations. In which case you should go for it. Otherwise, painted-on curtains will suit just fine.
Now all that’s left to do is make puppets! Get out some cardstock and scissors, as well as skewers to tape to the back if you like. Brads are also fun for attaching moving parts. Or, just use what you find around the house. We found animal crackers on toothpicks made for some great puppets.
Happy puppeteering!

Tags: DIY gifts by GiversLog, DIY gifts kids can make, DIY handmade gifts, gifts for nieces and nephews, gifts for preschool boys, gifts for preschool girls, gifts for school age girls, gifts for teachers, gifts for the grandkids, gifts for the whole family, gifts that are cheap or free, gifts that encourage creativity, inexpensive gift ideas

This entry was posted on Monday, October 5th, 2009 at 7:14 am and is filed under Gift ideas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.