Shadow Puppets – a Toddler Trick for indoors

We have a lot of fun with this one; at night in bed or on a wet day with the curtains shut!  You don’t have to be a particular talented hand actor or actress to have fun with this trick.  I stick to the basics and the adventures of bunny, crocodile and dog are both legendary and never ending.  Older toddlers will have fun making the ‘puppets’ with you and can join in the story telling and action as well.

 This toddler trick is great for toddlers of all ages and is something older toddlers can do to entertain a younger sibling as well!

What you need:

- A strong torch or lamp

- A dark room

- Lots of imagination

 What to do:

1. We have three basic ‘hand-puppets’ that we make.

a. Rabbit…easily identifiable by its ears and the bouncing up action as it moves around!  Don’t forget to ‘hop’ so bunny is not confused with dog!

 b. Dog…this really exercises your little finger and make sure that it moves up and down as you bark or dog talks in your story.

c. Crocodile…this is the easiest for a toddler to imitate.  The simplest version is just two hands, palm to palm, horizontally ‘snapping’.  But if your holding the torch as well the one handed crocodile as shown works the best.

2. Now make up your story.  This can be really simple “Bunny is going shopping…hop hop hop”.   Dog is going to the beach – watch dog run fast and bark loudly “wooof, woof”.  Crocodile is hiding behind a rock…can you see crocodile?  Yes there he is! (Note – your two fisted rock is easily turned into crocodile!).

I am sure you get the idea.  Play around and see what other fun characters and stories you can create.

Note:  Try to keep things fun – crocodiles eating bunnies can be a bit scary when you’re two.