The Magic Flute

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, we are working through a study of Mozart and the opera in my recent homeschool class.  Today we reviewed the story behind "The Magic Flute" with a little help from some puppets and a puppet theater!

I did a bit of research looking for information on how to make a homemade puppet theater.  Here is what I came up with!  Cute, huh?  It uses a foam display board so it easily stands up on a table.  Here is the link to the instructions I used.  In fact, I made it with the same colors since I loved it so much.  And it's VERY easy to do!



Once I had the theater done, I started thinking about how to make puppets.  While I could have put the students to work making them, I decided with this particular group, it might be better if we focused on the story and the acting side, so I needed to come up with something myself.  That something or should I say someone, became my father!  He took the book and made drawings of all the characters.  All I had to do was to color them, laminate them and add sticks.  Thanks, Dad!

Here's what they look like!

The photography isn't the greatest as they look fabulous in person!  I love that my dad made this contribution to the studio!

Today we commissioned them and while the story was read, the kids acted out the scenes.

They absolutely LOVED this activity.  We have one more class in this 8 week long series so we're planning to perform the opera for the parents using puppets and puppet theater.

I also now have a puppet theater to use in the studio for other classes and even for my regular students in group workshops!  Love it!