Quick Answer

Shadow Puppets includes 30 simple picture puppets for exploring light and shadows. Attach a craft stick, add a flashlight, and let children compare pictures with their shadows, guess familiar objects, and experiment with making shadows bigger and smaller.

What’s Inside

• 30 puppets across five themes: Jungle Animals, Transportation, Farm Life, Under the Sea, and Toys

• Ready-to-use colored pictures

• “Color Your Own Puppets” with blank shapes for children to color and add details

• Six puppets per page with simple outer edges for easier cutting

• Teacher directions, discussion prompts, and Preschool Vibes standards

• 11-page printable PDF

How to Use

Print your selected pages on opaque cardstock. Use the colored pictures or let children color and add details to the blank shapes. Cut around the outside edge and tape a craft stick to the back of each puppet. Laminate first if desired.

Dim the room and hold a puppet between a flashlight and a plain wall or white screen. Compare the picture with its shadow: Which features can children still recognize? What happened to the colors, stripes, and spots?

Keep the light still and move the puppet closer to the light or toward the wall to explore changes in shadow size. For a guessing game, show only the shadow, then reveal the picture.

Preschool Vibes Standards

6A. We can observe using our senses and describe what we notice.

6D. We can test ideas and notice what happened.

6E. We can use simple tools and materials to explore (magnifiers, droppers, ramps, magnets, balance, light).