Notes on the Story of Jacob shadow puppet show

Shadow puppets from the Story of Jacob:  the "stew" puppet and Rachel

If you have followed my Shadow Puppet Tutorials #1-#3, then you have made your Shadow Theatre and cut out your first puppet, Jacob.

Look over the script to see which parts of the story you want to perform.Take my advice, don't try to perform the whole story at once, it's waayyy too long...!

The Story of Jacob puppet script can be found here.

Cut out your puppets:  puppet patterns are available in my Etsy shop.

Puppets include sheep, angels, Jacob's elderly father, Isaac; his brother, Esau; more sheep, goats, the hot stew over the fire, Laban, Leah, Rachel, more angels.....   You'll need plenty of black cardstock and some extra blades.

You will also need some laminating sheets. The "stew" puppet (see photo above) definitely needs to be laminated to keep it together. You will need to laminate the flocks of animals (see picture below) and the Laban puppet  should probably be laminated to protect his walking stick. To make the angel stairway, I laminated 8 angels onto a long flight of steps. I made 2 angels each in small, medium, large and XL sizes by shrinking the template; the smallest angels go on top.  I also made the steps gradually smaller toward the top. You may need 2 puppeteers to hold that one up. If you want to make a light at the top of the stairs, someone can shine a small flashlight at the screen....

an angel for Jacob's ladder

If you have a small hole punch, it's very handy for making the spotted sheep and goats.
Just punch holes in them! ( which sounds very odd.....! ) See picture below.

You'll need colored tissue paper (and more laminating sheets) to make Joseph's colorful coat...if you decide to do that part of the story. See picture below.

And also you will need tiny brads if you want some of your puppets to have a moving arms.

I would love to hear about your adventures using puppets.  What part of the story did you perform? Did you have kids operating the puppets? Did you perform for another class? Are you using these puppets for other Bible stories as well?

-- Sue

Isaac; moving arm shadow puppet (note brad at shoulder)

Jacob's flock of spotted sheep & goats laminated together into 1 puppet.

little Joseph, Jacob's favorite son

optional pyramid scenery for last scene (no pattern for this)