Depending on the way he folds his fingers and arranges his hands, an adept shadow puppeteer can cast a shadow resembling a bird, horse, or the profile of a dog onto a wall. More elaborate shapes require some supplementary materials, such as our templates for a shark, sea horse, angelfish, tuna, crab, and mermaid. Simply print the templates, cut out the shapes, and trace them onto card stock -- or create your own shapes. Use dowels, ice-pop sticks, drinking straws, or even twigs taped onto the backs of the shapes as handles; if a shape has moving parts, punch holes as indicated and attach the pieces with a brass fastener.

Shadow Puppet Templates