Preschoolers, as well as primary school students, are often given interesting tasks related to creativity. You can surprise everyone with DIY theater-themed crafts.
The work, although quite large-scale, is fascinating, and also develops the child's fine motor skills, his speech and thinking.
Types of puppet theaters and materials
Any parent can create their own home theater. A child can also be involved in this business. Surely in this case, the process will go more fun, and the baby will be busy.
For work, something that is sure to be found in many homes is suitable. Even some junk materials will come in handy, so do not rush to write them off.
This could be:
- Disposable plastic tableware,
- Felt,
- Boxes of different shapes and sizes,
- Colored paper / cardboard,
- Rolls of paper towels, foil, or toilet paper
What are dolls?
- Stationary
- On hand
- Finger
Paper
Paper is one of the easiest and most affordable materials for creating puppet-themed crafts.
The first way
You will need:
- Paper or cardboard
- Cereal box / desired size,
- Plastic straws,
- Wooden sticks,
- Glue,
- Scissors,
- Paints,
- The pencils.
Progress:
- On thick paper, depict the characters of the selected fairy tale or story.
- After they are cut out, glue tubes or sticks from the inside out.
- The box will act as a stage, so you need to cut out the "screen" or one of the larger sides.
- A slot is also made in the lower part. Prepared figures of heroes on sticks should be inserted there.
Such a theater is either mounted on a stand or hung around the neck thanks to a tape attached to the box.
Second way
As the basis for the bodies of the characters, either homemade paper tubes are used, or ready-made ones from paper towels or toilet paper.
Depending on whether the doll will be on the hand or on the finger, the size itself is selected. The scene is also made out of the box, as in the previous version.
Such a craft can be done in a kindergarten, for an event.
Felt finger puppets
Here we will talk about felt crafts for elementary school on the theme of theater. This dense material will allow you to create many detailed and at the same time simple dolls. They are usually sized for finger theater.
To make them you will need:
- Felt of several colors,
- Thread, needle,
- Scissors,
- Glue,
- Paper and cardboard.
Option with finger puppets
- Before you start working with the basic materials, you should decide on the scale of the figures.
- To do this, you need to circle your palm. The child can draw characters over the outline of the hand.
- Adults will only need to transfer parts to felt sheets, cut and sew or glue.
Puppet variant
- To do this, you need to prepare a sketch in advance. You should get several elements: a large main part, hair, clothes, pens, for animals - a muzzle.
- The next step is to transfer the pattern to felt. Colors are selected according to your taste or at the request of the child. So in the photo of various crafts on the theme of the theater, you can often see pink bunnies or multi-colored cats.
- Further, as all the parts are cut out, it is better to conduct a trial assembly. Thanks to this, it will be possible to correct possible errors or remove inaccuracies in time.
- The final assembly of the character should start with the main part, adding other elements to it.You can fasten them both by sewing on and using a glue gun.
Scenery and background
- Prepare in advance the scheme according to which the scene will be created in the future.
- The cut-out elements are sewn onto the front side of a thick A4 felt sheet.
- The next step will be to stitch 2 sheets: blanks with decor and felt backing.
- For sealing, cardboard is inserted between the two fabric sheets. It should protrude a few centimeters. This strip is folded over to form a stand.
Shadow play
One of the most famous and interesting types of puppet theater. The main emphasis is on the silhouettes of the dolls, so the main challenge is to make the characters recognizable due to their outlines.
A short shadow theater craft workshop will help you put on a fun home show.
Stage 1. Scene
Materials:
- Medium box,
- Ruler,
- Scissors,
- Pencil,
- Paper,
- Glue or stapler
-
- You need to get a large rectangle out of the box. One of the main sides should be free of folds. The outline of the screen is drawn on it, indented from the edges by five centimeters. The resulting rectangle is cut out.
- The size of the paper sheet should be larger than the resulting hole. The screen is glued on the back. It is additionally fixed with a stapler for strength.
Stage 2. Heroes
It is necessary:
- Pencil,
- Cardboard,
- Scissors,
- Glue or stapler,
- Straws,
- Straws or wooden sticks
1. The silhouettes of the characters are transferred to the cardboard, after which they are cut along the contour. They must be recognizable, with characteristic features or shapes. The scenery is created in the same way.
2. The cut elements are attached to sticks with glue or a stapler.
Stage 3. Staging
Everything is simple here. The script will be your favorite fairy tale. To start the show, place a table lamp behind the screen and turn it on.
Non-standard theater
In addition to standard and popular children's crafts, you can arrange your performance using non-standard materials.
An original solution will be disposable tableware made of plastic or wood, in particular, spoons. Selected characters are glued or painted on them, and they are also decorated as desired. By the way, it is better to use acrylic paints for painting.
Yogurt jars, as well as plastic bottles of interesting and unusual shapes. They, like dishes, can be painted or pasted over with colored paper. In addition, bottles can be used to make mini-scenes with decorations and arrange small plots there.
DIY scene
To fully understand how to make a full-fledged craft on a theatrical theme, it remains to create a scene. It is an important part of the production because it is where the action unfolds.
- The easiest and fastest option is a plain fabric, which is used to hang the doorway. In the center, a horizontal cut is made for the dolls.
- The next easy way to create a home scene is to put two chairs with their backs to each other and cover them with fabric.
Previously, an option was considered using cardboard boxes. It is time consuming and requires more effort, but the result is definitely worth it.
- A frame is formed from several boxes by laying them out like bricks.
- A window should remain in the center, which will be covered with a cloth.
- For the background, all the folding parts and 2 walls are cut off at one of the boxes. A rectangle is cut out at its bottom.
- The walls are fixed in a certain way, in an angular position. This is done specifically for sustainability.
- Small cylinders are fixed in places of folds. They will not allow the structure to fold during the presentation.
- When the base is ready, it's time to add some decorations.
Photo of crafts on the theme of theater
