Making Shadows Fun NOT Scary PLUS Thunder and Sunshine's New Video: The Monster In The Closet!

https://vimeo.com/319240979

Since my kids were about 3 years old we have had periods where they can't sleep for worrying about scary shadows and monsters. So, when Esther Crow, of Thunder and Sunshine sent me the link to their new youtube video The Monster In The Closet, I had to do something with it. Its a really fun and catchy song and the video, directed by Anna Ablogina, uses kooky animated laundry to make a monster! Plus it has a funny ending which my kids both loved. The song is from Thunder and Sunshine's debut album, This is Thunder and Sunshine (2016).

As my five year old says, the video teaches you that the things you are scared of at night are 'only your imagination'.

My five year old has a very vivid imagination and we have tried a variety of ways to get him to sleep soundly at night. He sleeps with a torch next to his bed so that if he wakes up and is scared of shadows he can check to make sure that there is nothing there. These shadow puppets are another way to let kids have fun in the dark and play with shadows rather than be scared of them.

To make the puppets:

I traced the shape of whichever animals my kids wanted me to make onto plain white paper: a shark, a dragon and a tiger for the five year old boy, and a corgi doggie and an elephant for the four year old girl!

Once the animal shape had been traced, I decided where I wanted the body to move; either the mouth, the legs or the main torso of the animal. Cut whichever part you want to move from the main animal shape. Now cut the animal shapes onto card and leave extra space where the two parts will be joined. Check to see that when the animal moves that the parts move neatly together .Trim if you need to. Fix chopsticks to the back of each animal with tape.

To Make The Lightbbox:

We used a clear Ikea plastic tub and put a torch inside. You can also use a piece of white paper or a sheet with a torch behind it.

Fun with shadows! Now lets hope for a good night's sleep tonight!!

Good luck and be sure to check out Thunder and Sunshine's YouTube page and find them also on Spotify! Also, have a look at the blog post I did back in November using Thunder and Sunshine's awesome video The Letter Z.

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