Shadows and Reflections

Learning about Shadows and Reflections 

 We talked a lot about how shadows move with the sun and how the location of the sun determines which way your shadow falls. This was a fun craft to help the kids to visually understand how the sun casts shadows.

 We used the projector to see the 'shadows' different objects make. We played a game too, I sent each kid to hunt for something in the classroom that was small enough to fit in their hand. I called them up one by one and they placed their object on the projector, the other kids had to guess what the object was! It was fun and some of the items were tricky!!!

We have these cool bugs in our classroom, we brought them over to the projector to see what kinds of 'shadows' they would make, because they are clear the kids observed how you could see color....more like a reflection then a shadow!

 Exploring with different objects.

 Shadow puppets!! Each kid had a chance to make a shadow puppet on the wall.

 This is actually my hubby and my son at LACMA in Los Angeles but it was fitting since we were talking about shadows!

 I made these shadow games by taking objects and photocopying them onto a sheet of paper, then I glued the paper onto a file folder and laminated it. I taped a envelope on the inside to store the pieces.

 The kids take out the objects and match them to the correct 'shadow'!

These are my favorite! Have you ever tried to trace the silhouette of 24... 3 and 4 year olds?!?! It's NOT easy!!! But this is!!! I simply set up the projector and put a chair in front of a white sheet of paper on the wall. I took my CAMERA and turned the flash off, then simply snapped the picture....TA-DA instant silhouettes minus the tracing and cutting!!!!

We spent lots of time looking into mirrors and seeing our reflections! Talking about the differences between our shadows and our reflections! 

Questions to ask when talking about shadows and reflections! 


Can we see our shadow at night or in the shade? Why not?
Do our shadows have colors? Do our reflections have colors?
Why do our shadows get bigger and smaller? 
Why do our shadows move? 


We also took the kid outside and traced their shadows with chalk then we went out later and had them stand in the same spot.....their shadows moved!!!! We of course also played shadow tag! We also read the book Moon Bears Shadow. 
It was a GREAT week learning about Shadows and Reflections!!!