Addy’s Shadow Puppet
Thank you for joining us for our program today. We are so happy that you are here!
For today’s program, we will be making a Shadow Puppet, a craft brought to us by one of American Girl’s kind and caring characters, Addy. Addy’s story takes place in 1864 during the the Civil War.
Today’s craft can be found in Addy’s Craft Book: A Look at Crafts from the Past with Projects You Can Make Today. The following directions make one puppet. We hope you enjoy Addy’s Shadow Puppet.
Materials
Pencil
Sheet of tracing paper
Newspaper
Piece of poster board, 7 by 11 inches
Small knife
Scissors
4 brass fasteners (Available in most craft stores)
Small artist’s paintbrush
Acrylic paints, any colors
Wood glue
3 small sticks, each 10 inches long (Thin bamboo or plastic chopsticks work well too)
Directions
Use the pencil to trace a puppet pattern of your choosing onto tracing paper. Don’t cut them out yet.
Place the tracing paper onto the newspaper, design side down. Use the side of the pencil to color over the lines of the pattern pieces.
Place the tracing paper on the poster board, design side up. Draw over the lines of the pattern pieces
Lift the tracing paper. The pencil markings from the back of the tracing paper will come off where you are traced.
Ask an adult to use the knife to cut out the small holes on the pattern pieces. Then cut out the pattern pieces.
To attach an arm, push a brass fastener through the hole of 1 of the lower arm pieces. Then push it through 1 of the holes in an upper arm piece. Fold the fastener flat.
Attach the arm to 1 of the puppet’s shoulders with another brass fastener. Attach the other arm in the same way. Then paint your puppet.
After the paint has dried, lay your puppet on a table, with the back side facing up. Squeeze a line of glue down them middle of the puppet’s back. Then squeeze a little glue on each of the puppet’s hands.
Lay the sticks on the glue. Let the glue dry completely.
To work your puppet, hold the middle stick in 1 hand. Use your other hand to move the puppet’s arms.
Tack a sheet in a sunny window, slip your puppet behind the sheet and put on a shadow play just as Addy and Sarah did!
Did You Know: In Addy’s time, some children made their own paper theaters by cutting out pictures of famous actors and playing with them on a paper stage? Paper theaters could also be bought in stores. Most theaters were in black and white, but people could also by them in color.
Photo of Addy’s Shadow Puppet | 1994 | American Girl, LLC., U.S.