About this material

Light travels in straight lines, and a shadow is the place something blocks it. Puppeteers in Java, China and Turkey have told stories with shadows thrown on a cloth for centuries, Egyptians read the time from the shadow of a sundial, and the camera obscura, a dark room with one small hole, showed painters the world upside down on a wall long before cameras. The sun moves, so a shadow is never still for long.

Invitations

• A white sheet hung with a single lamp behind it for shadow play with bodies and objects.
• An overhead projector with natural objects, lace, combs and colored transparent shapes to project on the wall.
• Three lamps with red, green and blue covers so children can discover colored shadows.
• A shadow box from cardboard with a tracing paper screen and a flashlight behind it.
• Flashlights in a fabric tent or under a table for exploring a dark space.
• Chalk tracing of children's shadows on pavement outdoors in the morning and again after lunch.
• Small animals or blocks placed on paper in the sun so children can trace their shadows.
• Cardboard and stick shadow puppets made by children for their own shadow stories.
• A basket of materials to sort by how much light passes through, such as fabric, mesh, bubble wrap, clear cups and cardboard.
• Prisms and crystals hung in a sunny window to send rainbows across the room.
• Lying under a large tree or a leafy shelter to watch moving leaf shadows.
• Shadows of plants traced on paper clipped to a board in the garden.
• Hand shadows on the wall during a quiet story time.
• A tall stick in the ground outdoors with stones marking where its shadow falls through the day.
• Shadow tracing on white paper with black pencil, and on black paper with white chalk or white pencil, side by side.
• A limited palette of colored transparent shapes in red, yellow and blue only on the overhead projector, overlapping to make new colors.
• Shadows cast onto many surfaces, such as a white sheet, a brick wall, a black board, grass, sand and kraft paper.
• Light sources of many kinds, such as flashlights, a lamp, a projector, a headlamp, battery candles and the sun.
• A shadow corner in each class atelier with a small lamp, a white screen and a basket of objects.
• For fours, fives and TK, shadow puppet shows with planned scenes and taped marks for where the light goes.

Together or alone

Both. A shadow screen invites shared stories and bodies working together. A flashlight and a small box hold one child's careful experiments.

Good to know

Check lamps and projectors for heat and keep cords taped down. Test colored films near bulbs so they do not melt. Remind children never to look straight at the sun or shine lights into eyes. Store small transparent pieces in clear lidded boxes. Darken the space with curtains or a fabric canopy for indoor shadow play. Keep black and white paper and chalk with the shadow tracing basket. LED lights stay cool and are safest for children to move.

The child's role

• Choose and arrange objects to project.
• Move the light and the object to change shadow size.
• Make puppets and run their own shadow shows.
• Trace and record shadows through the day.
• Sort materials by how they let light through.
• Set up and turn off the lights with care.
• Teach a friend how to make a shadow grow.
• Choose black or white paper for tracing.
• Overlap colored shapes and name the new colors.

Closing it together

Children turn off lights and lamps with care, sort transparent pieces into their clear boxes and return puppets to their basket. An adult unplugs any projector that is hot. Tracing papers go into the shadow basket, so the space is ready for the next day without educator time.

Your presence

Sit inside the shadow space at the children's level and keep your voice low and steady. When the dark worries a child, stay close and keep the light within their reach. Narrate what you see, such as You moved closer and your shadow grew.

Wondering alongside

• I notice your shadow changed.
• I wonder where the shadow will be after lunch.
• It reminds me of the oak leaves moving.
• How could we make it bigger?
• What do you see that makes you say that?

Ways it can grow

1. Begin with bodies and one strong light so children can find their own shadows.
2. For twos and threes, offer a flashlight and a lamp on a wall and chase shadows together.
3. Add objects with holes, lace and mesh to project patterns.
4. Add transparent colored pieces and notice colored shadows.
5. Offer flashlights so children control the light source.
6. Trace shadows outdoors at different times and talk about the changes.
7. Sort materials into ones that block, let some or let all light through.
8. Build shadow boxes from cardboard and tracing paper.
9. Make shadow puppets and hold shadow stories with music.
10. Add a second and third light to make many shadows from one object.
11. Use red, green and blue lights together and look for new colors.
12. Look at artists who make pictures from shadows and invite children to build a shadow sculpture.
13. Put objects on a slow spinning turntable in front of the light to make moving shadows.
14. Mark the shadow of one tall stick across the year to see the seasons.
15. Trace shadows on black and white paper and compare.
16. Overlap red, yellow and blue shapes and look for new colors.
17. Model moving the light closer and farther slowly.
18. Make a simple sundial in the garden.

Every child

For a child who seeks more, offer big body shadows to jump, stretch and chase across an open outdoor space.

For a child who finds it too much, offer a small flashlight and a box in a quiet, dim corner with a choice to leave the dark at any time.

Connected cards

Light table, Mirrors, Puppets and storytelling, Photography, Sun prints, Rainbows and color, Space, sun and moon, Monsters and fear, Time and clocks, Shadows through the year, Studio and class ateliers, Outdoor gathering space

What you need

A flashlight or lamp, a blank wall or a sheet, sidewalk chalk, and small toys, kitchen tools or cut paper shapes. White chalk on dark paper is good for tracing shadows.

Ways to try it

• Make hand shadows on the wall at bedtime.
• Trace your child's shadow with chalk in the morning and again later.
• Shine a flashlight through a colander, lace or a strainer.
• Make paper shadow puppets on sticks and tell a story.
• Stand a toy in the sun and trace its shadow on paper.

Your child's role

Your child can hold the light, move the objects and tell the shadow story. Your child can turn off the flashlight, put shapes and toys back in a basket and fold up the sheet.

Wonder together

• How can we make the shadow bigger?
• Where did your shadow go?
• Tell me about your shadow story.

What your child is learning

Your child is learning how light travels and how shadows change through the day. Moving the body to make shadows helps children judge space, and quiet dim places can help them find a slower pace.

Bring it to school

Send in a photo of a shadow you found or clear and colored plastic lids, lace or mesh for our shadow play. If your program tracks family participation hours, this counts toward them.

Good to know

Never look at the sun or shine a light into eyes. Keep lamps away from fabric and paper.