Laser Cut Wooden Puppets with Keynote and Apple Pencil

We have a new Laser Cutter in the ES Makerspace. I have been wanting to extend working with wood for our students.

The first hurdle that I had to overcome was how to use the Laser Cutter. It's a Glowforge Pro. My first cut was documented on my IG account. I read as much information on the Glowforge site as I could. It was very easy to use as Glowforge supplies you with wood for your first project.

I wanted to start using the cutter as quickly as possible with my students. A Grade 1 class that I was teaching in the Makerspace provided me with that first opportunity. The students were interested in animals and learning more about the form of animals. For example: What makes an eagle look like an eagle? I asked each child to make a silhouette drawing of their animal.

It took a few attempts for the students to understand that they only needed to draw the outer shape. Next we looked into making some fo the parts move. I worked with each child to identify which body part could move by adding a split pin.

The students took a few attempts to draw their puppets which they did on paper . Next I photographed each one with my iPad inside the Keynote app so that I could trace over their drawing with an Apple Pencil to create a digital sketch.

I really like to use Keynote with an Apple Pencil for this and it is easy to export to PDF. PDF files are easily read by the Glowforge laser cutter. To send it to the Glowforge, I uploaded the PDF to the Glowforge online app and then added the settings for the cut.

As I was using local plywood (uncertified material), I needed to make some test cuts and watch carefully to make sure the wood is cut through safely.

I posted my progress to my Instagram account, which was liked and commented on by Glowforge. They even asked me if they could share my Grade 1 work on their official accounts which is very cool considering that this is my first try at using the laser cutter with students!

After successfully cutting out all the parts the students painted their puppets and put them together ready for the puppet show. We were the first class to use the new puppet theatre in our school library.