I love teaching my kids through play or in other words through active learning. They have fun through discovery while not realizing they are learning something new. This past weekend I taught my kids about the movement of the sun while playing with chalk on a sunny day. For this shadow chalk experiment we traced some shadows and later came back to those objects, still in the same place. The first observation my kids made was that the shadow moved. What happened and why does that happen they wondered. I love when they are the ones asking the questions because that is when they are engaged and want to know the answer. That means they will listen to the answer by their own choice. They gave me the chance to talk to them about the sun and the earth’s movements.
Shadow Chalk Experiment
- Sunny day
- Cement sidewalk or driveway (some place you can color with chalk)
- Objects with interesting shapes
- Locate a sunny place on your sidewalk or driveway.
- Place your object on the cement.
- Use chalk to trace around the shadow.
- What are the similarities and differences between the object and the shadow?
- If you have time: Trace around the base of your object so you know where it goes in case it is moved.
- Come back in an hour. Make sure the object is in the original location. Trace the shadow as before.
- Come back later and trace the shadow again. Do it as many times as you wish.
- Is the shadow exactly the same or different? Why?
- This can be repeated throughout the day if you choose.
Shadow Art Game
- Collect 5-10 objects with interesting shapes.
- Located a sunny place on your sidewalk or driveway.
- One partner turns away and closes their eyes.
- The other partner chooses one of the objects. Place it on your sidewalk or driveway.
- Trace the shadow.
- Remove the object. Place it with the other objects.
- Ask your partner to come guess which object you chose to draw.
- To make it even harder: Choose two objects. Trace and color one shadow then choose a different color to trace and color the second object. Overlap the shadows to be tricky.