Shadow Puppet in the Classroom

The session I attended yesterday was about using puppet to enhance the learning in the classroom. I was thinking of 'puppet' from cloth or flanel before I saw the puppet stage on a table that indicated that it is going to be a shadow puppet. It is a familiar sight for us, Javanese, because we always have the shadow puppet show in a traditional event such as circumcision ceremonies, weddings and special events as a way of saying thanks to the Lord.

The first thing we do is to set the plot of the story and make sure that the facts and characters are familiar for the audience (the children) before we can go on with the story. Afterwards, we decide on the characters to make by using a piece of black paper, cellotape, a bamboo skewer (for us to hold on to the character), scissors, and to add some color to the puppet, we can use transparant oil paper or thin layers of plastic strips. I find it fun to cut the paper into shapes and then have a short stop afterwards to give just enough time to decide whether the characters need some more 'decorations' to make them livelier. There is one piece equipment that is quite hard to come by: a paper fastener. We use that when we want to have some movements in a character.

When the characters are ready, be sure to stick your skewer securely so it doesn't fall off. Now, your puppet is ready. The next step is a bit tricky. All members of the group must decide on what characters he/ she holds on to during the play and how he/she is going to 'give life' to the characters. Each member is going to be too busy holding on to the character(s) and the improvisation that a good memorization of the dialogs and an understanding of the storyline are compulsory. I guess this is why the story should not be too long, only 3-5 minutes. Besides, longer storyline means more characters. I took three during the performance and balancing between holding three characters, the dialogues and the improvisation was haaaaarrrddddd!!!