In his works, the outstanding teacher-innovator Sukhomlinsky argued: "The child’s mind is located at the tips of his fingers." And this is not accidental - the cerebral cortex has a very vast area responsible for the work of the hands. Therefore, the child's level of intelligence directly depends on the degree of development of fine motor skills of his fingers. All kinds of finger games, including finger puppet theater, will help the child develop jewelry accuracy in hand coordination . Moreover - such a theater is a whole arsenal of tools for the development of the child. Judge for yourself.
What do games in the finger theater give?
This is not only a fun pastime and an opportunity to entertain a group of children, but also a very useful activity. The beneficial effects of the enthusiasm for finger theater are as follows:
- stimulation of fine motor development;
- familiarity with such concepts as color, size, shape;
- development of spatial perception skills (concepts: right, left, side by side, in front of each other, etc.);
- development of imagination, memory training, concentration of attention;
- activation of speech function and expansion of vocabulary;
- the formation of creative abilities and artistic skills;
- familiarity with elementary mathematical concepts.
In addition, the children's theater - finger, shadow or classical - implies acquaintance with fiction, the basics of stage skill, plastic, etc. All this contributes to broadening the horizons, enriching the child’s speech, developing emotionality, sociability, curiosity, arousing interest in creativity. And if you decide to make a finger theater with your own hands with your child, you can add to all this qualities such as love of work, the development of perseverance and concentration.
Do-it-yourself finger theater
We need a sheet of paper or tracing paper, a pencil, multi-colored felt, scissors, a brush, glue, threads of the right colors, a needle or a sewing machine. And, of course, there must be a desire in a good mood to make a finger theater out of felt with your own hands. Hero patterns can be taken from this article or invented by yourself using simple geometric shapes.
Patterns for pattern
Who exactly will perform on the stage of your theater is up to you, or rather, your child, to decide: these may be the heroes of Russian folk tales, modern animated series, or characters from everyday life. The main thing is that such a game was a joy to everyone. According to our templates, following the instructions below, you can easily make four funny characters for a theatrical action called "Zoo": a lion, cat, bear and hippo.
Accordingly, you will receive a finger theater from felt (with your own hands).
The patterns of all the heroes are very simple, even a child from elementary school will cope with them.
But, of course, parents will also be interested in participating in the process.
Step-by-step instruction
- Print a photo with characters or simply attach a sheet of paper (tracing paper) to its image on the monitor.
- Circle the figure you are interested in with a pencil, cut it out. Attach the resulting template to a felt of the appropriate color and draw its outline on the fabric. This way you get the front part of the base of the doll. Cut it with scissors.
- Turn the template over with the other side, attach it to the felt, outline, cut - this will be the back of the character.
- In a similar way, make patterns for all the small elements of the figures (clothing, accessories, eyes, etc.).
- Important! First of all, it is necessary to completely make the front and back of the figures, and only then sew the finished together. Glue the cut out small elements to the front side: paws, mane, etc. Start with the largest parts located directly on the base, moving to the higher. Leave small parts such as eyes or specks at the very end.
- Fold both finished sides of the figure with the wrong sides to each other and sew them together with a buttonhole stitch. Also for this purpose, you can use the sewing machine, making a contour seam at a distance of ~ 5 mm from the edge. Do not forget to leave the bottom of the figures unbroken - a finger should go into it.
That, in fact, is the whole master class. Finger Theater called "Zoo" is ready. Now you can show views. But it would be better if you even make a house for the heroes, where they will live in their free time from concert activity, as well as a stage for performances.
House
When you made a finger theater from felt with your own hands, the patterns of the house already need to be done taking into account the size and number of characters in action. If you plan to replenish the troupe in the future, then this fact must also be foreseen. The house can be sewn from the same felt. It can take the form of a book with pages-pockets for felt figures and contain a scene (for example, as shown in the figure below) or be a flat rectangle-handbag - it all depends on your desire and capabilities.
Scene
The scene is even simpler. In every house, there is likely to be an unnecessary shoe box (or similar). Cutting a rectangular hole in the base of the box or its lid and placing the box on the side, you get a scene resembling a street stage.
Well, if you decorate it with a curtain and backstage, for example from the same felt, then your characters can already feel like actors of a big theater. And if you come up with such a design that the stage opening is closed, for example, with a shutter, then in such a box theater they can "live" in their free time from performances.
Your home theater
The teacher S. I. Merzlyakova said: “Theater is a magical land in which a child rejoices while playing, and in the game he learns the world.” Your finger theater, patterns for which you can borrow in this article or come up with yourself, will allow your child to plunge into theatrical activities with his head. As a rule, children of preschool age easily and with pleasure join the game, energetically embody the images, turning into real artists.
The game is a serious matter, but at the same time fun. Connect children to it - theatrical games can also be used as an unobtrusive, but at the same time effective pedagogical tool, because during this process the child feels relaxed and free. In the process of joint work on the intonation and expressiveness of the characters' replicas, as well as their own statements, the vocabulary is invisible to the child, his vocabulary is activated, and the speech culture is improved .
By connecting children of different ages to the game, when the elders show performances to the kids or make joint performances with them, you teach the children to play in a team in a playful way and educate them towards each other. Practice shows that the enthusiasm for finger theater improves the mood in children, instills confidence in them, makes them freer and more relaxed, and children acquired skills during the game easily transfer them to everyday life - these are songs, dances, poems, riddles and jokes.
To be continued!
Organized in this way, work often contributes to the fact that such a theatrical play becomes a method of children's self-expression and self-realization of a child in various types of creativity. Therefore, it is possible that, having come to taste, your child will want to make another finger-type theater of felt with his own hands, patterns for which he will already come up with himself!