Our Shadow Puppet Shows

We didn’t watch much television this time last year apart from CBBC, as it was just weeks after son1’s diagnosis of leukaemia. So I didn’t see Attraction win Britain’s Got Talent 2013 with their shadow dancing.

Swinton Insurance has recently teamed up with Attraction, to develop an advertising campaign employing the group’s specialist shadow dancing skills to bring the Swinton brand to life with an emphasis on ‘people’ rather than just ‘product’. You can view the latest TV ad here.

Swinton have now challenged bloggers to create a shadow puppet story. They sent us a free shadow puppet kit to use.

Son1 got really into this and it was amazing seeing him come up with his storyline to accompany the puppets. No preparation, just straight off the cuff. Maybe he has a future career on the stage. Meanwhile son2 and dad held the theatre curtain, while mum did the filming.

Our shadow puppet show

And son2 joined in for the second shadow puppet story. We found a better solution for the theatre curtain, hanging it across 2 door handles, although it was a bit of a tight squeeze backstage for the boys, puppets and lamp. This one is 7 minutes long. Son2’s puppets appear a little blurry as he hadn’t quite the hang of how best to position them.

I then realised that Swinton only wanted us to send them a 1-2 minute video, so here is take 3. A different story theme this time.

Also it inspired son2 to make his own Mr Punch puppet. He wanted to colour his puppet in, but this isn’t necessary for a shadow puppet show. All you need is to cut the outline from a piece of cardboard and attach it to a stick. The stick is so that you can easily hold your puppet without your fingers getting in the way and spoiling the shadow shape of your puppet.

Son2 made a Mr Punch puppet

The boys love these shadow puppets and are having so much fun putting on shadow puppet shows. All you need is a lamp and a dark room. The latter was a bit tricky at this time of year, as even with the curtains shut, the brightness of the sun still sneaks in.

All we need now is a more receptive audience than a row of teddies!

Disclosure.  This post mentions a product I was sent for free.  All opinions are my own.