What is a shadow?

Glorious sunshine casts curious shadows. What is a shadow? Do you like the dark? It’s time to explore night and day, and light and dark in this project about shadows.

This half term, we’ll head outside to go shadow hunting, exploring our environment to find and make shadows. How will our movements affect our shadows? Back in the classroom, we’ll investigate light by using prisms, torches and kaleidoscopes, discovering which materials light does and doesn’t shine through. On a journey around school, we’ll spot different light sources and trace around the shadows outside. Will these shadows change throughout the day? In our literacy lessons, we’ll predict and complete rhyming strings and write about the different things we do in the day and at night. Using our mathematical skills, we’ll name 2-D and 3-D shapes, grouping them and making patterns. Getting creative we’ll try out some shadow puppetry and craft beautiful stained glass windows. We’ll also share our experiences and feelings about the dark.

At the end of the project, we’ll reflect on what we have learnt about light and dark, draw shadows and make a night time scene.

Help your child prepare for their project

Shadows can be spooky, but they are also great fun! Why not practise making animal shadows together by projecting a beam of light onto a wall and using your hands and fingers to create shadowy creatures? You could also draw a picture of your house and garden, adding shadows. Increase the difficulty by adding the Sun to the sky and predicting the direction the shadows would be cast, depending on the Sun’s position. Alternatively, venture out into the garden on a sunny day and use both your bodies to create weird and wonderful shadows.

Areas of learning Early Learning Goals

Communication and language Listening and attention; Understanding; Speaking

Physical development Moving and handling

Personal, social and emotional development Managing feelings and behaviour

Literacy Reading; Writing

Mathematics Shape, space and measures

Understanding the world The world; Technology

Expressive arts and design Exploring and using media and materials; Being imaginative