Infant/Toddler

Meet your shadow: Young children are often amazed when they first encounter their own shadows! Sometimes children will notice these themselves, but often they will need to be introduced to their shadows and the language of shadows by you. At an opportune moment, point the shadow out to your child: “There’s your shadow! It seems to stay on this side of you. What happens when you try to step on the shadow?”

What do you see? Mirrors offer their own brand of excitement. When children are new to mirrors it takes some time for them to realize who it is they are seeing. Encourage your toddler to look at herself in the mirror to experience reflection. As she does, act as a “narrator,” by asking a question like “What do you see?” or “Do you see your eyes?” or making a statement such as “When I look in the mirror I can see my ears!” Very young children benefit from many experiences with mirrors in order to get a sense of what a mirror can do, and the narration can help them to associate language with what they see. These early experiences with mirrors will provide an important foundation for later investigations into reflection.

Preschooler/Kindergartner

Investigate your shadow: Once children have some familiarity with shadows they can be challenged to experiment with them a bit. Encourage your child to make different-shaped shadows, first with her hands, then with some other objects. What happens when you use a circular object, such as a hula hoop? Can you turn the hoop to make a circular shadow? What happens as you gradually change which way the hoop is facing? This kind of investigation can help your child make a connection between where the light source is—and if you are outdoors during the day, that means the sun—and how the shadow appears on the ground or other surface. This can also be done indoors with a lamp. Consider this Shadow Casting game for a related activity.

Where else can you see yourself? Mirrors are not the only surfaces that reflect. As you walk past buildings with your child, encourage him to look at windows. At certain times of day, windows can act as mirrors! See if he can begin to notice the patterns of where the light source, usually the sun, is in relation to the reflective surface. Can you see a reflection in the same window all day? What about when it is dark? Pools of water can also be reflective at certain times, so be sure to ask your child to talk about whether or not he can see himself or anything else reflected in a pond or river.

Exploring balloon power: Partially inflate a balloon and ask your child what she thinks will happen when you let go of the end. Where does she think the balloon will go? "Do you think its shape and size will change? In what ways?" Then watch and discuss its flight. This investigation can be extended by attaching the balloon to something else that can move, such as a toy car or truck, or even a toy boat in a small pond. Ask, “What do you think will happen when I let go of the balloon now?”

First Grader/Reader-Writer

Studying your shadow over time: With a piece of chalk and a suitable surface such as a sidewalk or a driveway, you and your child can watch shadows change over a period of time. Begin by asking your child to stand on the surface. Then trace his feet (to know where his feet actually were at the start) and then the outline of his entire shadow. Write down the time, and then repeat this process at intervals throughout the day, trying to be sure that your child stands exactly where he stood earlier. These intervals can be long, such as every hour, or shorter. This kind of shadow recording can provide experiences with the predictable pattern of the sun’s “movement” across the sky. NOTE: The sun is not moving! It is the earth’s rotation on its axis that is causing what appears to us—particularly young children—as a moving sun.

Bending reflections: Flat reflective surfaces offer one kind of view, but what about curved surfaces? Or more than one mirror? Have your child look at a shiny spoon. Ask, “Can you see your reflection in the curved part? What do you notice about your reflection?” Once your child has gotten used to seeing his reflection in any number of surfaces, extend on these experiences by helping him notice the quality of his reflection, such as a changed size or shape, or even if it appears upside-down as the shape of the surface changes. Push him to try to offer an explanation as to why he thinks this is happening. For a creative way to put reflection to use, see the Kaleidoscope activity on PBS Parents.

Paper airplanes: A few sheets of paper and just a small amount of space in a room or outdoors can be enough for some investigation into how things travel through air. You can find instructions for making paper airplanes on the web. Try out different airplane designs; do they all work equally well?