My 2 1/2 year old, Logan, recently discovered the fun of shadows. As he was chasing his shadow from room to room one day, laughing hysterically, I knew I had to incorporate shadow play into Tot School Tuesday. I forgot how fun shadows can be to children (and adults too!) and we had a fun morning playing with our new monkey shadow puppets while encouraging counting. Logan surprised me by counting to 20 without assistance. I can’t get over how truly they are like little sponges at this age. I’ll definitely be encouraging learning through shadow play a lot more!
Activity: Counting Shadow Puppets
(learning objective: counting, numbers, language development)
Materials
Cardstock
Monkey Stencil or Silhouette/Cricut Graphic
10 Popsicle Sticks
Craft Glue or Hot Glue
Flashlight
White Background or White Sheet
Instructions
Cut 10 monkeys out of the cardstock. If you have a Silhouette or Cricut, you can use these machines for cutting. If not, you can look for a free stencil online and cut them out yourself. Glue monkeys to popsicle sticks. Pick a white background or throw a sheet over a couch and a dark room for this activity. Shine the flashlight toward the white background and have your child hold up the monkey shadow puppets in front of the flashlight, casting shadows. Sing the song “10 little monkeys jumping on a bed” during this activity. Encourage your child to count the monkeys and explore shadows.
Tot School Tuesday Co-host: Kara of Mine for the Making (visit her blog for preschool aged activities)
Link up your Tot School Tuesday activities here! Tot School Tuesday is all about teaching your child something in a fun and playful way. Blog along with me every Tuesday and link up your ideas here. They can be original ideas or something you saw online (just make sure to give credit to the person who came up with the idea).
“Tot School Tuesday” rules:
- Tot School related blog post links only please. Links to shops, giveaways and products will be deleted.
- Link directly to your Tot School post, not just your blog.
- Please link to See Vanessa Craft somewhere on your post or grab a “Tot School Tuesday” button and link it back to www.seevanessacraft.com.
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I love these, we made shadow puppets the other day on a piece of paper on the fridge! He drew around the shape the shadow made!
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Oh love that idea!! Thanks for linking up dear!
Hello I really aprreciate this great and interesting post. Thank you for sharing!