Virtual Workshop Ages 8+

Cranky Toy Theatre Workshop

Learn how to make your own hand-cranked toy theatre

Cranky Toy Theatre Workshop

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Online Family Workshop I Ages 8+

Cranky Toy Theatre Workshop

Get hands-on with this online workshop & make your own moving toy theatre!

These toys, also known as The Moving Panorama or Cranky Theatre,  are traditionally used in folk singing and storytelling. Rather than turning a page to reveal the images, they appear across the “screen” of the box by turning a handle (or crank).

These toys were an innovation on panoramic paintings in the mid-nineteenth century. It became a new visual element to theatre and was among the most popular forms of entertainment, serving as an ancestor and platform to early cinema.

Where & When

Online  Workshop
Saturday 24th July
10:00 – 11:30 & 16:30 – 18:00
Ages 8+
€6 per household.
Please book below

Materials Needed

These are the materials you will need to follow along with the workshop;
  • 1 small cardboard box (a small cereal box is perfect somewhere around 12x25x6cm )
  • a glue stick
  • scissors
  • pencil & pencil sharpener
  • ruler
  • 2x A4 sheets of either thick paper or thin card (contrasting colours eg blue & yellow or pink & orange)
  • 4 sheets of A4 thin white paper
  • 2 straight sticks (dowel / long chopsticks / long pencils, that are a little longer than the width of your cereal box)
  • 1 A4 sheet of cardboard box (brown packaging box – possible to cut with scissors)
  • a sewing needle
  • tape (sellotape or gaffer not masking tape unless it’s strong)

Book Tickets

This is a virtual event  children must be accompanied at all times online by an adult. 

About Emma Brierley

Emma is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Scotland. She collaborates in the UK and internationally with communities and individuals, circuses and farmers, activists and makers of all ages to create puppets, print, performance and animations that are both surreal and socially engaged.
Co-Founder of Swallow The Sea Caravan Theatre (Scotland)
Collaborator with Golden Hour Productions (Scotland), and Rural Academy Theater (USA)
Board Member for Puppet Animation Scotland