Seen the Light
Light is one of those topics that can be a little tricky to teach as it is very difficult to measure for the Foundation child, but with a little help from our trusted friends “the shoe boxes” no task is to difficult to overcome.
Take a shoebox:
- Line the inside with black paper
- Make a little hole in one end to act as a viewing point
- Place little plastic Ted three quarters of the way down inside the box held upright with blu-tack and replace the shoe box lid
- Cut a one cm wide slit 10cms long lengthways down the middle of the lid
- Mark off the slit in 1cm divisions
- Place a card over the lid to stop light entering
- Allow light to enter the box 1cm at a time
Challenge the children to say when they can see Ted, light level 1,2,3 etc
Put different colour Teds in each box. This will enable the children to understand;
- Without light we cannot see
- Light coloured objects show up best in restricted light conditions
This was just one of many activities we did to further the understanding of the properties of light that also included shadows and reflections.
We even had the opportunity to view the phases of the moon again courtesy of the shoe box!
Harry Young, Early Years PGCE Core Science Subject Tutor, 15.04.10