Children, like kittens, may believe that they are able to escape their shadow ? But we encounter our shadows every day. Why not play with them?
My 6-year-old son drew a shadow of a teapot. He looked at the final image and clearly noted a discrepancy. We took a flashlight and a few other things with us into the dark dressing room in order to learn more about shadows.
He realized that, by moving flashlight closer and further away from objects, the shadow’s size changed. Sure thing, he asked me loads of questions!
I found this article useful http://kinooze.com/what-is-a-shadow. It helps to explain some stuff, in particular how to answer the question “How are shadows formed?”, for example.
“Sometimes objects can block light, which means that no light is able to pass through that object. An object that no light can pass through is called an opaque object. The easiest example of this is our body. Stand in the way of a light beam from a small torch. If you ask someone to stand behind you and spot light beam, the person behind you will see no light since your body does not allow it to pass through. Whenever light is not able to go through an object, it creates a dark area around the object. This patch where the light can’t reach is called a shadow. Opaque objects create clear dark shadows.”
Give it a try and write down your observations in “My Bright Journal”.
