Begin a new family tradition this Christmas. Stage a Nativity scene shadow puppet play with kids!
A couple of years ago, I held a poll among my readers, asking what shadow puppet set they’d like to see me create. I got a lot of interesting answers. The one that popped up often was a Nativity scene, which seemed like a great addition to our shadow theatre. So I started to work on it, and this Christmas I’m happy to finally show it.
As a shadow puppet set, the Nativity set is one of my favourites, the other current favourite being Create-a-Fairy-tale set. I was working on them both at the same time and using all the skills I had learnt from making my previous shadow puppets. Granted, the previous ones were all based on 19th C fairy-tales, and I felt like I should use a different style for the Nativity set. The Nativity silhouettes are less frilly and more abstract than the rest of our puppets. Flowing folds of robes contrast with the spiky straw edges of the barn and the manger.
There are many characters in the play, so I tried to choose the essential ones. Depending on how many puppeteers you can enlist, you may want to reduce the amount even more. If we have a shadow puppet show with a screen and there are too many objects involved, I often adhere a few right to the screen with a double-sided tape. That creates static objects and frees hands.
Nativity Scene Characters
Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus and the angel. The baby silhouette was designed so that he could be set down in a cradle, but could also be picked up and snuggled closely to Mary.
The shepherd with the barn animals.
The magi, also known as the wise men or three kings.
The printable designs for these shadow puppets can be found here. You can also get them with our Silhouette Christmas Bundle. The book is a collection of various ideas for Christmas-themed silhouette crafts—ornaments, lanterns, cards, tags and toys. Altogether, there are fifteen silhouette crafts with over sixty pages of printable silhouette designs. Print and make—it’s that easy!
How to Cut Shadow Puppets
\The post contains Amazon affiliate links to the products we used.
Read this article for the most detailed tutorial on how to cut the puppets. You can also watch a video documenting the process of me cutting one there!
You will find the puppet designs to be in JPEG formats: that way, you can use them for printing on paper and cutting by hand or for importing into the software of a silhouette cutting machine. Regardless of what you do for cutting, I recommend using 80-90 lb black paper for the puppets. 65 lb could do as well, but will be a little on a thin side; 110+ lb would work great for stiffness, but increases the difficulty of cutting. 80-90 lb is my happy medium. Bamboo skewers make convenient puppet sticks.
1 — If you have a silhouette cutting machine (Silhouette or Cricut), you can import the designs and and have it cut in no time. Here are a couple of useful articles:
How to import a JPEG image in the Silhouette Studio
How to import a JPEG image in the Cricut Design Space
2 — There is still nothing wrong with cutting with scissors! I recommend printing the silhouettes on black paper. It’s a little more difficult to see the design than on white paper, but it’s not at all impossible, as you can see for yourself on the picture below. That way the puppets are black on both sides, and little discrepancies between the printed design and the actual cut will not show up.
My favourite tools for cutting are:
- standard scissors for cutting out general shapes and straight lines
- precision manicure scissors for cutting out tiny details
- hobby knife for cutting out inner design, like folds in clothes and windows in buildings
For a demonstration, you can hop over to this project and watch a video of me cutting a silhouette design.
Download the designs
or
Buy the puppets already cut!
And have the beginning of a new family tradition, with a mysterious shadow play retelling the ancient story of Christmas!
If you have a shadow puppet show, do share your photos with us! We love seeing them. You can post them on our Facebook page, email me or tag us on Facebook or Instagram – @adventureinabox!
More Shadow Puppets!
Check out our collection of printable shadow puppets, or order one of the shadow puppet sets that have already been cut! These shadow puppets will let your kids make their version of Little Red Riding Hood and stage a shadow play at home or in the classroom! Use these printable shadow puppets to stage a shadow puppet play for children, based on nursery rhymes - Little Miss Muffet, Mary Had a Little Lamb, Itsy Bitsy Spiders, and others! Inspired by the Beauty and the Beast fairy-tale, these printable shadow puppets will let the kids tell their version of the “tale as old as time. Learn an easy way to make colourful shadow puppets with kids! Making a set of vibrant butterfly shadow puppets and playing with light and shadows will be a great nature STEM project. Celebrate the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival by staging a shadow puppet show based on the Chinese Moon legend that explains the origins and traditions of the festival. Using these printable shadow puppets, you can stage a shadow puppet play, based on the popular fairy-tale The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse! Prepare children for new social experiences, such as by making social stories and acting them out with shadow puppets!
Little Red Riding Hood: Shadow Puppets
Nursery Rhymes: Shadow Puppets
Beauty and the Beast: Shadow Puppets
Butterflies: Colourful Shadow Puppets
Moon Festival: Shadow Puppets
Town Mouse and Country Mouse: Shadow Puppets
Social Stories with Shadow Puppets
Your ideas are so beautiful! I would so love to win the shadow puppet set as time won’t allow for cutting it myself.
Maybe I am the lucky one…
Cheers from Germany and have a wonderful Christmas time!
Cornelia