February and it’s legendary Ground Hog coming up to look for it’s shadow offers a great opportunity to discuss shadow with your children. How can you make shadows? Why are they sometimes different sizes? |
SHADOW PICTURES
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Have your child take a piece of white paper outside. |
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Show her how to capture a small shadow with the paper, by placing it next to an object that is casting a shadow. |
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REVERSE SHADOWS
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Have your child take a piece of dark colored construction paper outside when the sun is shinning. |
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Have him place some small objects on top of the paper and leave it outside for a day. |
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When the child removes the objects from his paper, he will notice that the sun has left shadows of the shapes on his paper. |
Note: The sun is not really creating a shadow in this case, it is merely, sun bleaching the paper around each object, so the place where the object sat will appear darker. |
SHADOW MATCH-UPS
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Lay some simple objects on black paper. |
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Draw around the objects and then cut out the shapes. |
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Set out the objects and the shadow shapes. |
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Have your child match up the objects with their shapes. |
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Examples of simple objects; a book, a key, a saucer, a hot cake turner, a quarter and a cookie cutter. |
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SHADOW DANCING
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Shine a light on a wall and encourage your children to dance. |
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Have children notice that the shadows on the wall are also dancing. |
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SHADOW ANIMALS
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Show your child how to make shadow animals on the wall. |
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MAKING SHADOWS
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Have your child set an object on the floor or on a table. |
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Next, have him shine a flashlight directly in front of the object and look for the shadow. |
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Move the light closer, higher and lower and have your child notice how the shadow changes. |
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SHADOW DISCOVERIES
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Take your children on a walk on a sunny day. |
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Look at the different shadows cased by birds, trees, animals, houses, cars and signs. |
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Do the shadows look the same as the real objects? Do the objects look different at different times of the day? |
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Have the children stand in the shade. Why can’t they see their shadows? Where do shadows go at night? |
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SHADOW RECORD
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Find a short tree or object outside to observe on a sunny day. |
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Each hour measure the length of the object’s shadow. |
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Help your children to make a picture record. |
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Let them discover that the time of the day and weather affect the lengths of the shadows. |
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