Video:How to Make Shadow Puppets

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Transcript:How to Make Shadow Puppets

Hi, I am Mouzhan Yousefi for About.com, and today I am going to show you how to make three shadow puppets: a dog, a swan, and a bunny rabbit. Shadow puppets are a fun creative activity that kids enjoy and parents enjoy and can both do together and have a lot of fun with.

Form a Dog Shadow Puppet

First let's make a dog. Take your right hand palm and have it facing the light, your right hand thumb is going to be the dog s ear, your right hand pinky is going to be the dog s mouth. Take your left hand and bend all of your fingers, except for your thumb.

Have you nails come up to your right hand palm, so that your left hand thumb is also sticking up with your right-hand thumb, so your two thumbs are sticking up and they are the ears. When you move your right hand pinky up and down and open and close it, it is the dog's mouth.

Variations on the Dog Shadow Puppet

You can spread your forearms apart to make the dog s neck seem a little bit thicker, you can play around with the angles of your hands. You can make noises, bark.

Make a Swam Shadow Puppet

The next animal we are going to make will be a swan. Using your right hand, bend your wrist and then arch your fingers over a little bit. You can get this hook shape and that is going to be the swan s face. You can take your left hand and bring it up towards your elbow and that is going to be the swan's feathers.

Variations on the Swan Shadow Puppet

Another thing that you can do is, you can use your left hand spread out all of your fingers and have the swan come up to your fingers to eat as if they are a blade of grass.

Make a Rabbit Shadow Puppet

Okay, now I am going to show you how to make a bunny rabbit. Have your palms flat, cross your wrists like you are making an X. With your pinky, grab your left hand pinky wrap it around your other pinky and then with your right hand index finger grab your left index finger from the outside.

Your left hand thumb is going to become the rabbit's feet, your right hand fingers will be the rabbit's ears, and your left hand fingers will be its little hands. Your right hand thumb should touch your left hand index finger so that it is hidden. You can wiggle your right hand middle and ring finger to be the rabbit's ears so you can wiggle those around.

Variations on the Rabbit Shadow Puppet

You can wiggle around your left hand middle ring finger, you can pretend the rabbit is cleaning its face or you can bounce a little bit, if you have your right hand index finger come up and touch your right hand middle finger it give you an nice shape to the head.

With a little bit of practice you can make these shadow puppets come to life. Thank you for watching. To learn more please visit us on the Web at parenting.about.com.