Shadow Activity
To help students understand how light travels and how shadows are created, our students of class v conducted an engaging and hands-on Shadow Activity. This activity introduced students to the basic principles of light, such as how it travels in a straight line, how objects block light, and how shadows change in size and shape depending on the position of the light source. The objective of the activity was to help children observe shadows, identify factors affecting them, and relate the concept to everyday experiences.
To begin with, students were shown a torch/flashlight and a variety of objects such as a white dhoti, ball, a pencil, a toy, a book, and a bag. All the doors and windows were closed for observing the shadows clearly. They observed what happened when the light was directed at the object. The students quickly noticed that when an object blocks the path of light, a dark region forms behind it. This dark patch is called a shadow. They also explored how different objects create shadows of different shapes and sizes and how transparent, translucent, and opaque objects behave when placed in the path of light. They created fun activities like shadow puppet show with different postures with their hands.
During the activity, students held objects at different distances from the light source and screen. They discovered that when the object moves closer to the torch, the shadow becomes larger, and when the object moves away, the shadow becomes smaller. They have also learnt that shadows are never inverted and they do not provided information such as color and size of objects
