Week 4: Making and Changing Shadows

Children listen to and discuss the book Moonbear’s Shadow, by Frank Asch, and act out scenes from the story.

Children revisit combined shadows, shadows growing larger as objects are moved closer to the light, and shadows changing shape as objects are rotated.

Children explore how many ways they can move a flashlight to make the length and position of a shadow change. Then they work in pairs, shining two flashlights at an object.

Children continue to explore creating shadows to provide shade for dogs. They arrange different materials—bushes, bricks, and trees--to create big, small, tall, and wide shadows.

Children create sculptures from play dough and craft materials, then shine a flashlight on their sculpture to examine its shadow.

Children act out story scenes, create shadows, and describe shadow positions using illustrations from the book Moonbear’s Shadow, by Frank Asch.

Children explore shadows in a dark, digital cave. They make big and small shadows to match an outline that is on the cave wall.

Children explore how to make the shadow of an object inside the shadow theater bigger, smaller, and clear enough to identify by moving a flashlight closer and farther away.

Children trace and measure shadows at different times of the day and discover how the location and length of the shadows change. They use the Cool Shadow tool to document their experiment.

Children hold a Shadow Dance, singing some of the songs they learned in this unit.

Children sing and move to an action song about their shadows.