What you need:
- light source (lamp)
- cardboard/construction paper
- pencil
- scissors
- glue/tape
- sticks (straws, unsharpened pencils, dowelling, or wooden skewers) a light-coloured wall to project onto
- cat templates from Appendix B
How to:
- Trace the shapes of the cats from Appendix C onto the cardboard or construction paper and cut them out.
- Use tape or glue to attach a stick to the back of each of your cats.
- Put the lamp on the floor or on a table. Point it at the wall and turn it on. Turn off other lights and close the curtains.
- Hold your puppets between the light and the wall. Can you make up a story for your cats?
This poem about shadows was written by Robert Louis Stevenson who lived from 1850-1894. Stevenson wrote a lot of poetry for children as well as novels including Treasure Island. Can you memorize this poem? Can you use your cat shadow puppets to act out the poem?
My Shadow
I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,
And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.
He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;
And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.
The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow—
Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow;
For he sometimes shoots up taller like an India-rubber ball,
And he sometimes gets so little that there’s none of him at all.
He hasn’t got a notion of how children ought to play,
And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way.
He stays so close beside me, he’s a coward you can see;
I’d think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!
One morning, very early, before the sun was up,
I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;
But my lazy little shadow, like an errant sleepy-head,
Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.
~ Robert Louis Stevenson
(Public Domain)