WEEK 1 SHADOWS

Activity 1: What are shadows and how do they work?

Activity 2: Make a sundial

Activity 3: Toy Parade

Activity 4: Shadow Hand Puppets

Activity 5: Reading a book / E-book

Activity 6: Shadow Alphabet

Activity 7: Shadow Animation of Puss in Boots

Activity 8: What have I learnt?

WHAT ARE SHADOWS?

Take a lamp (or go outside into the sun) and experiment with making shadows on a wall, the floor or a table.

Here are some questions you can ask:

When you hold your hand in front of the light, why do you see a shadow?
Can you find anything in your house that doesn’t have a shadow
Why do widows not have shadows?
What happens to the shadow when you move your hand closer to the light? What happens when you move it further away?
How can you make the shadow smaller? How can you make it bigger?
Hold the light over an object and move it backwards and forwards. Experiment with making the shadow longer and shorter.

Make a poster about shadows and how they work

EXTENSION ACTIVITY FOR KS2

MAKE A SUNDIAL

This Wikihow page gives three ways to make a sundial, although the first two look easiest. Just choose one – the information below gives you some ideas for substituting the materials that you don’t have.

For the first it says you need a straight stick and some stones. However, you could use a pen or pencil instead of a stick, and bits of paper with numbers on, or even small toys, instead of stones. Just remember to secure the paper down with something if you want to use paper numbers.
For the second it says you need a compass so that you can find North. Most smart phones have an inbuilt compass that you should be able to find if you search for it. It also says that you need a paper plate, but you can just cut a circle out of a piece of paper instead.

Have a look and see which one’s right for you. Once you’ve made your sundial… Practise telling the time using the sun dial.

Create a schedule for tomorrow, doing a different exercise or activity every hour.

EXTENSION ACTIVITY FOR ALL LEVELS

TOY PARADE

For this activity you will need a lamp or the sun, some toys (the best toys to use are smallish plastic toys), a few sheets of plain paper, a ruler or some strips of paper cut up into different lengths.

If you don’t have a ruler, go to http://getruler.com/en/Calibrate. Use the + and – to make the screen card the same size as an actual credit card. Then press next to see an accurate ruler online.

This activity can be used to practise any times tables so adjust the number of inches that separates each toy to focus on the times tables that your child has been learning in school.

Put ‘start’ by one edge of your paper
Line your toys up so that they are 5 inches apart (if you want to practise the 5 times table)
Point to each toy, and ask “how far is the first toy from the start point?” (the answer is 5 inches), “how far is the second toy?” (10 inches), “how far is the third?” (15 inches)
Look at the toys’ shadows, see how long or short they are. If you’re outside, think about what time of day it is.

SHADOW HAND PUPPETS

For this activity you’ll need a lamp and a wall.

Watch the video on the left which teaches you how to make 9 different animals using your hands. Practise making the animals. Make a story using your shadow hand puppets and then act it out.

Write a script for your shadow performance, then learn the words and act it out.

EXTENSION ACTIVITY FOR ALL KS2

READ A BOOK

Read a story from home, or find an e-book on Oxford Owl:

First, go to the Oxford Owl website and make an account
Next, go to the Oxford Owl e-book library
Scroll down and choose the appropriate age group

Once you’ve chosen a book, read the story.
Ask and answer questions as you read. For example, “how does this character feel?”, “what do you think is going to happen next?”, “which words describe this place/character”, etc.

Use your body and see if you can make a shadow of every letter in the alphabet. For example, put your hands together above your head and have your feet apart to make an A.

Ask your child to spell out different words from the story using their body. (Adjust this for your child’s level)

SHADOW ALPHABET

Use your body and see if you can make a shadow of every letter in the alphabet. For example, put your hands together above your head and have your feet apart to make an A.

Ask your child to spell out different words from the story using their body. (Adjust this for your child’s level)

SHADOW ANIMATION

Here is a traditional Chinese shadow puppet performance for you to watch, called Cat and Mouse

After, watch this old shadow puppet animation of Puss in Boots, by Lotte Reiniger

After watching, talk about the story. Here are some ideas from Oxford Owl to help:

Discuss the personalities of the main characters in the story. ask the children which character has the strongest personality. Ask them to give a reason for their opinion.
Ask the children to give an example from the story of how puss showed that he was cunning.
Encourage the children to summarise Puss’s different character traits.
Invite the children to say what they enjoyed the most about the story and why.

Taken from here

WHAT HAVE I LEARNT?

Draw 3 shapes (stars, circles, blobs) on a piece of paper. Write the following headings in each one for your child:

Things I know about shadows
My favourite shadow activity and why
What do I want to learn next?

Help your child to write some thing in each one, or let them fill them in.