Student's Corner: The Emporer's New Clothes

Mirror, Mirror On the Wall…The Emperor was a very vain person who spent way too much time looking in the mirror, admiring himself.

Pair up with a partner, and pretend that one of you is the Emperor, and the other person is the reflection in the mirror. The Emperor should make slow movements as he primps and the reflection should try to mirror these movements.

This exercise requires a lot of focus, so work closely with your partner, so you all can be totally in sync. After the first “reflection” person has a turn, switch roles and try this again!

Hans Christian Andersen chose to illustrate his fairy tale books by using an art form known as “papercuts”. Papercutting was a popular Danish art medium at the time the Andersen wrote, and he felt that their dark, more serious nature helped to create the darker tone that he wanted to set for his stories.

Papercuts had originated from China over 1500 years ago, and was used to decorate common household items and clothing. It gained popularity with the most famous Chinese invention of all time—PAPER!!!

Andersen himself did some papercuts! Here is an example of one of his most famous paper cuts. It is said that this papercut includes some very important parts of Andersen’s life. There is the town of Odense, where he was born in the background, and to the sides of the figure are a windmill and an ugly duckling.

Materials needed:
Black construction paper
Cotton item
Scissors
Clothing iron
Chalk
An adult for helpIron-on transparent paper

Step 1: Composition
Take a black piece of paper, and use chalk to draw out your design for the picture. The design should be something that reminds you of The Emperor’s New Clothes whether it’s a robe, a character from the opera or a drawing of Hans Christian himself

Step 2: Cutting
The goal when cutting with scissors is to have one smooth, continuous cut with a sharp (but not too sharp) pair. Try not to stop when cutting, but keep on doing it!

Step 3: Pasting of Papercuts:
Then, take ake a clean sheet of transparent iron-on paper and carefully glue your papercut design onto it.

Step 4: Finishing
Finally, choose, something made of cotton (such as a t-shirt, a towel, a pillow case, etc) Ask an adult for help with turning on and working an iron. Turn iron to the cotton setting, and place your papercut onto the cotton. Ask an adult to iron the design onto the t-shirt and voila…your very own Chinese papercut.

Performances for Young Audiences | Kennedy Center Theater for Young Audiences on Tour | KC Home Page

Illustrations by Ray Cruz.Used with permission by Anthenum Books.