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Spooky Printable Halloween Shadow Puppets

Taking a break from the more science-intensive Halloween STEM activities we’ve been doing this month, today, we played with spooky Halloween shadow puppets.

These shadow puppet templates were a fun way to bring technology to the kids’ play and the templates were super-fun to make and play with!

I got the idea for this activity when my kids made their own shadow puppets a few months ago.

My eldest made a dragon and they used pencils for the sticks to hold the puppets up.

DIY Halloween Shadow Puppets

The kids played for quite some time with their little handmade puppets.

There is something about shadows that delight kids in a slightly creepy way, which is perfect for this time of year!

If you love Halloween, don’t miss these super fun templates for shadow stick puppets that make telling spooky stories a whole lot more fun!

How to Make the Halloween Shadow Puppets Printable

Follow these directions to make your own Halloween shadow puppets!

You just need a few things for these Halloween puppets, including bamboo skewers, paper, and a printer!

You can also just use the templates as a guide for tracing if you can’t get to a printer!

What you’ll need to make Halloween Shadow Puppets:

Don’t Print without These Supplies!

Printable and Worksheet Essentials for the Classroom

Here are some essentials for printing out and using worksheets and other paper resources in the classroom.

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Inkjet Printer (we love the Brother Brand)

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Inkjet Cartridges

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Thermal Laminator

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Laminating Sheets

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Scissors

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Pencils

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Dry Erase Markers

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Cardstock Paper

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Printer Paper

Print a lot of papers? Get $10 your HP Instant Ink order when you use this link.

How to make shadow puppets with paper

halloween shadow puppets

First, get the printable shadow puppets templates (they’re free!).

Print them onto cardstock paper and cut them out with scissors. If you cut out the eyes, the shadows come out even better.

Tape the skewers to the back of the puppets. This will make it easier to play with them in the light.

If you love Halloween, don't miss these super fun printable shadow puppet templates that make telling spooky stories a whole lot more fun!

Turn on the light and shine it on a large, blank wall. We used our dining room wall. Turn off other lights for even more drama.

Take turns telling spooky stories as you play with the puppets.

My kids had a blast with these silly little puppets.

Add a STEM Element to you Halloween shadow puppet templates

This project becomes a STEM activity when you add elements of science, technology, engineering, and math to it.

One way to transform this activity into a STEM activity is by having kids set up a stop-motion video of their puppet show, or by tracking how shadows move throughout the day by marking shadow progression every hour.

You can also experiment with distance and the angle of lights and how that changes the shadows.

There are so many fun things you can do with shadow science experiments!

More Fun Activity Ideas for Halloween

Try these Halloween STEM activities for more science fun this October!

These are some of the Halloween STEM activities my kids ask to do over and over.

halloween stem challenge cards

More Halloween Activities for Kids

Mad Scientist Potion

Bubbling Slime

Diving Ghost Experiment

Halloween I Spy

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