Children at a Puppet Theatre in Paris, 1963. Photo:www.christies.com
We all have a story to tell. Humans have been at it for a while, with the first recorded play being in ancient Egypt in 2500BC. This table top theatre project will undoubtedly help spawn a few storytellers, armed with lots of imagination. Let the drama begin!
Materials
- Mat board
- ruler
- pencil
- box cutter
- paint
Instructions
My last post offered instructions on how to make popsicle stick puppets, and you probably have a few finger puppets of your own lying around. Now you need to provide them with a theatre. Cutting this theatre out of mat board will require some effort on your part and once you click on Theatre Dimensions and see what I’m talking about, you may be discouraged and run off to the nearest store to buy a ready-made table top theatre. But wait! Think of your child and the wonderful opportunity you will provide them with, to decorate their very own theatre and not someone else’s interpretation.
If you’ve made it this far and have finished your cutting, you can pat yourself on the back, hand over your impressive work to the kids, and provide them with some paint to decorate your handy work. They may want to decorate their theatre in a way that ties into the theme of their play and puppets, or they might just go ahead and do whatever inspires them. All sorts of things can be glued to the front like glitter, foam bits, silk flowers, etc. My kids also loved to make tickets to sell or give out (depending on their mood) for each performance. Finally, all you need is a table and an audience for the show to begin!
Books about Theatre:
Cinderella Outgrows The Glass Slipper and Other Zany Fractured Fairy Tale Plays
Websites about Theatre:
ArtClubBlog 