Materials
- Strong flashlight Different objects around the classroom
What to do
1. Ask the children to pick up any object from around them, such as a block, a plate, a doll, a marker, etc.
2. Turn off the lights and pull the curtains to make the classroom as dark as possible.
3. Seat the children in front of a plain wall and let them take turns holding their objects in front of an illuminated flashlight which you hold so it shines steadily at the wall.
4. Encourage the children to look at the shadows they make. Ask questions such as, what shape is the shadow? Is it big or small? What happens when you move the object? Does the shadow move, too? What happens when you turn off the flashlight? Is the shadow still there?
5. Explain how things placed in front of a light make shadows, how shadows move and how we can make them bigger or smaller.
-Manisha Segal, Burtonsville, MD
