The sun and shadow.
To introduce the children to this topic I would close the blinds to have the room as dark as possible. Then using a large light I would ask them what they think might happen if somebody stood in front of the light blocking it. I would allow for a short discussion and then demonstrate allowing different children to block the light creating shadows. I would then put the children in a few small groups and give each group a torch to make shadow puppets. Following this I would ask the children when we might see shadows outside and have a discussion about the sun being the largest source of light.
The next I would take the children outside first thing in the morning. In pairs they would take it in turns to draw around each others shadow. At lunch time they would have to return to the same spot and using a different colour chalk draw each others shadow. The discussion would be based around what they noticed about their Shadows drawn at different times of the day. What was different? Why do they think they were different?
It can be linked in with maths and they could measure both shadows and calculate the difference in length and width taken in the morning and afternoon.
A lovely art lesson can also be integrated using large toy animals. The animals are placed in front of a piece of white paper and in a position that creates a shadow onto paper. The children then Trace the shadow onto the paper.
The poem ‘my shadow’ is also lovely to link in with these activities.