Make Your Own Projectors & Shadow Show

Make your own projectors using simple materials you likely have at home, and create your own shadow show! Shadow puppets make children’s experience with storytelling more personal and engaging. Follow these steps to help stoke your child’s creative thinking and coordination.

What You’ll Need:

Empty toilet paper rolls
Clear plastic wrap
Rubber bandsStickers
Small flashlight

What You’ll Do:

Place plastic wrap over one end of the toilet paper roll and secure with a rubber band.
Place a sticker in the middle of the plastic wrap.
Turn off the lights!
Shine a flashlight through the open end of the roll and point the projector towards a wall or ceiling.
Create a shadow show!

Play Prompt: Make multiple projectors with different shapes and use them to tell a story.

What Kids Learn

How to Support the Play

Ask lots of questions. Especially ones without a yes/no or right/wrong answer. “Why do you think that happened?” or “What do you think will happen next?”
Talk about what you see a child doing as they do it. Be a play-by-play announcer. You’ll notice little things that reveal how a child is learning. “I see how you…” and “I noticed that you…”

H/T: Mom and museum goer, Megan B.