Teacher sheet · Ages 6–7 · about 45–50 minutes
Light and shadows
Lesson page: echoesof.science/school/light/ages-6-7/ · Pupil worksheet: echoesof.science/school/light/ages-6-7/print/
Learning aims
- Light comes from light sources.
- We see objects when light reflects from them into our eyes.
- Light travels in straight lines; shadows form where light is blocked.
- White light is a mixture of colours.
Lesson plan
| Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| 5 min | Close the curtains: what can we still see? Why? |
| 10 min | Read the text together. |
| 20 min | Shadow puppets in pairs, filling in the table. |
| 5 min | Play Light or no light? on the board. |
| 5 min | Quiz. |
Materials for the experiment
- A torch
- A white wall or a sheet of white paper
- Your hands, or a cut-out animal shape on a stick
- A darkened room
Safety: Never shine a torch into anyone's eyes. Never look at the Sun.
Common misconceptions
| Pupils may think… | Actually… |
|---|---|
| Our eyes send out light to see. | Light enters our eyes from objects. |
| A mirror makes light. | It only reflects light from a source. |
| Shadows are made of something dark. | A shadow is just a place the light cannot reach. |
Worksheet answers
- A shadow on the right side of the tree.
- No.
- It got bigger.
Quiz answers
- Which of these is a light source? The Sun. The Sun makes its own light. A mirror only bounces light.[3]
- How do we see a toy in a lit room? Light bounces off it into our eyes. Light reflects from the toy into our eyes.[4]
- Why does a shadow form? Light travels in straight lines and is blocked. Light cannot go around the object.[3]
- What colours are hiding in white sunlight? All the colours of the rainbow. Sunlight is all the colours mixed together.[1]
- Your hand moves closer to the torch. The shadow gets… bigger. Near the torch your hand blocks more of the light.[3]
Going further
Go outside in the morning and in the afternoon and draw around a classmate's shadow on the playground with chalk. Does it change?
Sources used in this lesson
- [1] Why Is the Sky Blue? (NASA Space Place): reliability High
- [3] College Physics 2e, 25.1 The Ray Aspect of Light (OpenStax, Rice University): reliability High
- [4] College Physics 2e AP, 25.2 The Law of Reflection (OpenStax, Rice University): reliability High
- [5] College Physics 2e, 25.5 Dispersion: The Rainbow and Prisms (OpenStax, Rice University): reliability High
Full list with links and a note on each source's reliability: echoesof.science/school/light/sources/
Privacy: the lesson pages have no ads, no tracking and no cookies. Quiz answers and game scores stay in the pupil's browser. A short video for each age is coming.