shadow puppets
Lamp and fingers
Shadow puppets are figures made of flat material—traditionally leather or cardboard—manipulated between a light source and a translucent screen to cast silhouettes that tell stories.
The art form originated in Asia and remains associated with Indonesian and Chinese traditions.
Children make simpler versions with their hands: We made shadow puppets on the wall with a flashlight.
- theatreArt of staged performance
- dalangJavanese shadow-play narrator
- IndonesiaSoutheast Asian archipelago nation
- performanceCarrying out a task
- gamelanIndonesian percussive ensemble
ancient tradition · silhouette · leather carving · Java · mythology · epic tales · screen · lighting · Ramayana · flickering · backlit · fingers · folktale · campfire stories · bedtime stories · cutout · projection · manipulation
- hand gamesrock paper scissors, cat's cradle, thumb war, thumb wrestling, patty cake
- shadow puppetswayang kulit, silhouettes, rabbit ears, barking dog
- South Indian artsveena, temple murals, devotional music, bronze casting, silk weaving
- entertainerssingers, actor, dancers, actress, musicians
- kids playplaytime, playing, board games, blocks, card games
- party gamescharades, musical statues, musical chairs, truth or dare, spin the bottle
shadow puppetsmarionettes
String-controlled theatrical figures
string puppets · hand puppets · finger puppets · sock puppets · animatronics
shadow puppetsBroadway musical
Sung theatrical production
grand opera · Cirque du Soleil · theme park attraction · West End theater · immersive theater
shadow, puppet, shadowy, shadows, puppets, shadowed, shadowing, puppetry, puppeteer