Español
Materials
- desk lamp with a 100-watt bulb (or a slide projector)
- a large white sheet
- 2 chairs
- 4 large binder clips or tape
Use the large shadow theater you have set up as a learning center. To make it:
- Drape a sheet across two chairs that are a few feet apart.
- Use binder clips or tape to attach the corners of the sheet to the top and bottom of each chair. Make sure that the sheet is stretched tightly.
- Set up the lamp behind the theater so that it shines through the sheet.
Key Science Concepts
- You can change the shape of a shadow by moving and turning your body or the object making the shadow or by moving the light source.
- Indoors, you can change the size of a shadow by moving your body or the object closer to or farther from the light.
- Shadows grow bigger and fuzzier as the object moves closer to the light source, and smaller and sharper as the object moves farther away.
Directions
Tell children that instead of using the mini shadow theaters, today they will use a larger theater to make shadows.
- Ask children if any of them have played in the Large Shadow Theater learning center yet. If so, ask them to demonstrate how the theater works and what discoveries they’ve made so far.
- Split the group in two and give each group a turn to play in the shadow theater while the other group is the audience. Have the children in the audience describe what they see.
- Challenge the children behind the sheet to make different shapes by moving to different spots, moving their body in different ways, and facing different directions. Ask,
- How can you make your shadows grow and shrink?
- How can you make your shadow look fuzzy?
- Where is the best place to stand to make a shadow with clear outlines?
- Have the performers and the audience switch places, giving everyone a chance to make and observe shadows in the theater.
