Into The Shadows

After trying our hand (or should I say, our mouths?) at the Thai language. We decided to make another craft project. I thought it would be fun to create something that reflects the animals of Thailand. I have also really enjoyed looking at photos of The Nang Puppetry. So, we decided to combine the two. We made animal shadow puppets. We pulled out the book "Peek! A Thai Hide And Seek" which we borrowed from the library (and I wrote about here) to look at the animals and decide which ones we might like to try to create. 

Aiden knew without looking in any book, that he wanted to make a dragon. Yes, there are dragons is Thailand... well at least in all of the Thai folklore. So he chose a dragon and Eliana decided to make a turtle. After they each made their puppets, I added some small details (at their direction) to enhance the shadows. I made an elephant and a rooster, I just couldn't decide.  So, when in doubt, do both right???

I should add that it was around 90 degrees and try as I might, I could not get Aiden to put on a shirt for this activity.

I also learned something new, photographing shadows is actually harder than it seems. When I tried with just the shadows, they looked blurry (because they're shadows), so I felt I needed to add photos with both the puppet and the shadow. I also was unable to get them all in one shot, because when I was zoomed out enough to get them all, you couldn't see the details in the shadows... so here are the shadow puppets, with their shadows.