I have been working on this small, travel sized puppet theater in my head and finally was able to make it. I did a prototype first and realized that covering the boxes with paper was a drag and mess and then lo and behold, saw these boxes in front of me that I had bought for absolutely no good reason about 6 months ago, just waiting to be used! I made the labels and sewed little curtains that fold up into the boxes. . .
and then you flip the box over, stick your hand and fingers under the curtain and through the cut out holes and the finger puppets are ready to put on a show! I made scenes on heavy card stock that can be switched out (and may get laminated?) so the show can have different dramatic options. Here they are at the Great Wall of China. . .
and in Egypt and at the beach on a cold day. These are for Sadie and Delia, but they are mostly for me (pretty obvious) because I don't know how well they will hold up and the holes are sized for my fingers, not their tiny ones. But I was thinking in restaurants (what the heck is a restaurant?) and in the car, I could put on a little show for them and then it all can be tucked away in the box. Very pleasing.
here are some of the scenic cards (The Leaning Tower of Pisa, Safari Fun, and Haggia Sophia not shown) and the mini clothes pins and hats, scarf, etc go in the tiny small parts envelopes. The mini clothes pins are how I clip the back of the box to the stage to make the theater. It's a bit wobbly, but does the trick. Older kids could make this themselves and even draw their own scenes-that would be very cool, I think.
I'd love to do something similar with a cigar box, so it can be a bit more childproof. I originally saw the idea of fingers in cardboard as puppets in this book, recommend by the clever robin, for some reason I can't find it now, but I swear it's in there. I think. I couldn't stop thinking about making a stage with holes. Then Myra did this amazing self-portrait a bit back. too much! it made me so nutty, and the rest of it all smacks of The Small Object to me in such a big way and I swear she was guiding my hand while I was making these. Thank you.
