Early Science  /  Shadows  /  Videos  /  Activity

Shadow Puppets

 

Shadows
Videos

Children watch the video Shadow Puppets and make connections to their own shadow explorations.

A teacher, seated on the floor, holds an iPad up to a group of students seated around him. A teacher, seated on the floor, holds up and looks at an iPad, on which a video plays. Students around him watch.

The kids in this video make shadows of their puppets get bigger and bigger. How do you think they do it?

Let’s watch and see if our predictions are correct.

 

Materials

  • Shadow Puppets video on an iPad
  • iPads (1 for Circle Time, several for Digital Learning Center)
  • Projector (if available)

Preparation

  1. Familiarize yourself with the video Shadow Puppets.
  2. If using, set up a projector to display the iPad.
 

Directions: Lesson 6

Digital Learning Center
  1. Invite children to watch the Shadow Puppets video and closely observe what happens.
  2. As you stop by this center, engage children in conversation about how the shadows are made bigger and smaller and connect to children’s own explorations.
Circle Time: Wrap-Up
  1. As you prepare to rewatch the video, Shadow Puppets, ask children to predict what the children in the video will do with their puppets in order to make the shadows bigger and smaller. Watch the video to see if children’s predictions are correct.
    • Encourage children to describe how the shadows are made and how the shadows change. How does the shadow change? Why is it getting bigger/smaller?
  2. Ask children to recall the activities children did in the video. Which of these shadow activities have we also done, maybe in the Art Center or in the Shadow Center? Are there other shadow activities you saw in the video that you would like to try?
Length of Play

10–15 min.

Group Size
In the Schedule
 
Vocabulary
  • big, bigger
  • describe
  • predict
  • shadow
  • small, smaller
 
Learning Goals
Science
  • Observe and describe shadows (identify the light source, the object that blocks the light, and the shadow or darker area on the surface on the opposite side of the light source).
  • Observe and describe how a shadow changes when the light source is moved (shadow becomes bigger if the light moves closer to the blocker and smaller if the blocker moves farther away from the light.)