Boston Children's Museum
308 Congress Street, Boston, MA 02210
617-426-6500
© Boston Children’s Museum 2024
Website Design by JackrabbitLearning to observe the characteristics of objects, use descriptive vocabulary and ask the kinds of questions that lead to desired answers are all critical skills for children to develop. In this shadow guessing game, children will utilize those skills while at the same time exploring the science of shadows.
Gather the objects that will be used in this activity. Choose simple objects that children are familiar with (shoe, cup, etc.) and test them ahead of time to make sure that you have easy and difficult objects to guess.
Set up the “shadow screen”—stretch the white sheet across 2 chairs or pin it to a clothesline running across the room, etc. Make sure you can get behind the sheet. Set up the light source (the clamp lamp, etc.) behind the sheet, pointing at it, a couple of feet away. Place all of the shadow objects in a box behind the sheet.
Ask your students if they have ever noticed the shadow of something on a wall or on the ground before. Could they tell what it was? Have they ever noticed their own shadows on the ground?
Try to guess what an object is just by seeing its shadow!
After one child from each team has had a turn, stop to have a discussion with the entire group. Is it easy or hard to tell what something is just by seeing its shadow? Is it always easy/hard, or are some things tougher? What are some of the questions they can ask that will help them guess the object more quickly? Are there any questions that are probably not as helpful?
Return to the activity and have any other children that wish to pick an object do so.