Shadow Puppets

Not long ago we excitedly made a purchase...a purchase that is transforming my homeschool. It has freed up more of my time, it has given Mr Cheeky an enthusiasm for learning, and has aided us in planning and organising our weeks. What is it? I hear you ask. A printer...a wireless printer. I was very excited to pick up the printer. I had been managing without one for 18 months since my old printer had decided it was only going to photocopy photos in colour, the black ink did not work, couldn't print from the computer and couldn't even photocopy a worksheet properly. It ended up being a very selective printer and I don't think i can call it a printer. So for 18 months I have been drawing my own worksheets, relying on a kind father in law to print necessary documents and handwriting mostly everything, and in a day where modern technology is ever increasing (sometimes good sometimes bad) it was becoming rather tiresome and time consuming to create my own worksheets for the boys when I knew there was an option to click and print from some very good resources.

So the printer came and we have printed off lots of colouring sheets for Mr Cheeky who is becoming more eager to learn his letters and numbers. (On a side note there are lots of great colouring sheets that can be downloaded for free that focus on letters and numbers). Mr Sociable has enjoyed doing his grammar worksheets in colour and history maps and various math related activities. I have enjoyed being able to devote more of my time to other pursuits and now can contemplate using my free time to restart an idea formed a while ago of my own craft business.

On Saturday we used our printer to print off some gruffalo shapes, mounted them on black card, attached some sticks to them and created our own shadow puppet show.

Oh the fun we had.

The light box was created from an old cereal box with holes cut out and a plain sheet of paper stuck to the front with a table lamp behind it. I got the idea from good old pinterest and we had a great time recreating the gruffalo story. The penguins of madagascar even gatecrashed the show as the boys started to divert from the classic Julia Donaldson story and make up their own. Give it a try sometime...you won't be disappointed.