Light and Shadows
- Physics
- Ages 6–8 · Grades 1–2
- Hands-on experiment
What you’ll find out
- Light travels in straight lines until something blocks it.
- A shadow has the shape of the thing that blocked the light.
- Moving closer to the light makes a shadow bigger.
No sign-up and no real names. In the lesson you check your understanding as you read, run the experiment yourself, and practise until it sticks.
A shadow is a gap in the light
Shine a torch at a wall and put a cup in the way. A dark shape appears on the wall. That is a shadow. Light travels in straight lines, so when the cup blocks it, a gap is left where no light could reach.
Near the lamp, bigger shadow
Now move the cup about. Hold it close to the torch and the shadow grows huge. Move it close to the wall and the shadow shrinks. The cup never changed size at all — only where you held it changed.
Curriculum links: NGSS 1-PS4-3