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Family Gift Idea: Shadow Puppet Theater

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This is part two in TheGiftyGirl’s Craziest, Coolest, Most Unique Family Gift Ideas! Check out the Big Top Circus Family Gift post here and stay tuned for more family gift ideas that you’ll WANT to give!

I was up in the wee hours of the morning thanks to Daylight Savings. Keeping my youngest three quietly entertained is challenging. But sometimes necessity is the mother of invention, right?

With a flashlight in hand, we started doing shadow puppets on the wall. Such a simple thing, but the boys (ages 5 and 3) were SO entertained, and even our one-year-old was entranced by the shapes on the wall.  Later, when the older kids (12 and 9) woke up, we went into a dark room and played happily as a family. It was amazing!

Of course this sparked my GiftyGirl mind and I came up with the Shadow Puppet Theater family gift.  Read on to see what’s included as well as links that you can easily click and buy with!

Shadow Puppet Theater Family GIft

 

All the Pieces:

A spotlight: This is a really inexpensive spotlight (you will need a lightbulb though!) that will cast the perfect amount of light for fun shadow play.

Flashlights: We ended up with EVERYONE needing their own light to do their OWN puppet. These are a little over $2 each and come in a pack of four, totally worth adding to this present if there are a bunch of kids.  I actually bought this exact set for my son’s night game birthday party as favors and they have been really awesome. They are powerful and keep on working even after being dropped quite a few times!

Hands: Haha! No purchase necessary.

Some hand puppet inspiration: The Art of Hand Shadows has 70 illustrations that show how to position your hands to make lifelike shadows of a dinosaur, a pair of playful monkeys, an eagle, a cat, a howling wolf, a neighing horse, a dog that eats a rabbit, and many other figures. If the hand shadows seem a little intimidating, these books include 8 laser cut puppets on wooden sticks. There is one with Forest Friends (animals), Princess Paradise , and Dinosaurs (my boys will love this!).

Another option for the puppets is this set that comes all ready to use. It has 8 figures also including a fearsome dragon.

What it costs:

Remembering that prices on Amazon can change, this gift priced out at around $80. You could totally do less, leaving out several of the books or if you are a DIYer, you could print these shadow puppet templates made by Jen Goode, trace them onto thick cardstock, cut them out and tape them to wooden skewers (check the dollar store!).  If you just stuck to the spotlight and flashlights, then added your own DIY shadow puppets, this gift would be around $20!! Awesome!

Who to buy this gift for:

I have kids ranging in age from 1-12 and our family would absolutely LOVE this gift! I think as long as there are little kids in the house the big kids would have fun doing it too.

What do you think, would your kids love a shadow puppet theater this Christmas? I’ve already got the spotlight in my Amazon cart, my kids are going to go crazy over this!

Happy Gifting!

Steph
family-gift-ideas

 

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