Indonesian Wayang Kulit Paper Craft

Wayang kulit shadow puppets have been entertaining the people of Indonesia for thousands of years.
Traditional wayang puppets are made from buffalo hide and are elaborately painted with bright colours
and gold leaf. The puppets perform behind a thin white screen, which is backlit, to create intricate
shadows. A dalang, or puppet master, controls the puppets and provides voices for each character.
Traditionally, wayang puppets are used to tell stories from ancient Hindu scriptures. However, these
days they can be used to tell any kind of story. Wayang provide a wonderful opportunity to incorporate
storytelling and visual arts into the Indonesian classroom.
Your students can use these wayang templates to create their very own shadow plays. They can use
them to re-enact the Ramayana, or as a fun way to practise dialogue.

Wayang Templates:
Traditionally, the stories told in wayang kulit plays are derived from ancient Hindu texts. As such, the
characters used are specific and well known. Listed below is a brief description of each of the wayang
character templates provided in this resource.
1. Gunungan is the tree of life. All wayang kulit plays begin and end with the Gunungan.
2. Rama is a prince and the eldest son of the King, Dasharatha.
3. Sita is a beautiful princess and the wife of Rama.
4. Laksmana is a prince and brother to Rama.
5. Ravana is a demon who abducts Sita.
6. Jatayu is a mythical bird who fights Ravana.
7. Hanuman is the king of the monkey army.
8. Arjuna is a master archer and great fighter.
9. Semar is the god of love disguised as a clown-servant.
10. Niwatakawaca is a malicious king.

You will need: Instructions:

• wayang puppet templates
• stiff A4 cardboard
• coloured pencils
• scissors
• wooden skewers
• sticky tape
1 Print the wayang template on to stiff cardboard.
2 Colour in the puppet template.
3 Carefully cut out the puppet.
Stick skewers on to the back of the puppet using
4
sticky tape.

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Gunungan

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Rama

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Sita

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Laksmana

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Ravana

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Jatayu
Hanuman

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Arjuna

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Semar
Niwatakawaca

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