Shadow Theater with Flashlight and Box

What you'll need

• A medium cardboard box
• A large sheet of white tracing paper or thin baking paper
• Craft knife (adult use) and tape
• Black cardstock for puppets
• Wooden skewers or straws for puppet sticks
• A small flashlight

How to make it

1. 1

   Cut a large rectangular window in one side of the box — this is the screen frame.

2. 2

   Tape the white paper across the window on the inside so it's smooth and taut.

3. 3

   Draw simple silhouettes on the black cardstock together — a bunny, a tree, a moon, a person.

4. 4

   Cut out the shapes and tape each one to a skewer or straw.

5. 5

   Set the box on a table with the paper screen facing your child.

6. 6

   Turn out the room lights. Shine the flashlight from behind the box and move the puppets between the light and the paper. Tell a story as the shadows dance.