Outside, a few children noticed that their shadows were very tall. I asked them why their shadows kept following them around. That question led to lots of silly experiments and many more questions. Someone mentioned that their shadow was longer on the blacktop than on the sidewalk and led us to wondering why. We attempted to trace our shadows with the supplies at hand, some sandstone we found laying around, but found it was too difficult to make a mark. We’ll certainly need to gather some chalk before we go out to investigate again.
With the interest in shadows, we pulled out our old fashioned, non-digital projector and set it up in the construction area. Mrs. Pless added a few materials and we let them explore on their own.
Most of their focus has been on what happens when materials are placed on the lighted top of the projector. Placing a transparent color shape, they will quickly turn around to see how it changes the projection on the blinds. Only a few children have noticed the changes they can make by building with the see-through blocks in FRONT of the blinds.
So far, none have noticed their own shadows now visible on the blinds. It will be interesting to see how it changes their play once they’ve discovered their own shadows.