L for Light

See what we did for other letters in the Alphabet in Simple Science.

L for Light

Science Notebook Page (Click the picture to print).

    Background

I defined light as the type of energy that lets us see things.  We read some books and watched The Magic School Bus Gets a Bright Idea, then we did a lot of playing!  We used a prism to separate the beam of a couple different flashlights into rainbows (taking a picture of that did NOT work, sorry).  We got out his light box and some flash lights and he had a ball!

   

Color Mixing with Light Paddles

Materials:

Light Paddles (or colored binder dividers)
Light Source

Procedure:

I definitely scaffolded this activity.  With an older child you could just give them all the colors and let them go!  I set him up on the light table and put the green, purple, and orange paddles on one side.  I gave him the red, blue, and yellow and told him to see if he could find a way to make the other colors.  After he would combine each color set I asked him what it looked like.  It took a little while, but he did make them all.  Then he tried combining all the colors together.

He thought it was neat to change the color of everything by putting the paddles to his eyes!  I thought it was a great little experiment and had him tell me what he observed.

As an extension, I thought it would be fun for him to blend paint colors as well.  I asked him to predict what he thought might happen.  I gave him red, blue, and yellow.  Then I also gave him red and blue, red and yellow, and blue and yellow.  He had a great time mixing them and finding the colors.

Exploring Shadows

Materials:

Flashlight
Small Toy or paper cutout

Procedure:

We turned off the lights and got out a flashlight.  For a while I just held it up for him and let him explore.  Then I asked him to make and test some predictions.  "What do you think will happen if you hold your hand really close to the flashlight?  What if you hold your hand really close to the wall?  What do you think would happen if we move the flashlight instead?"  He had a great time changing the size of his shadow this way.  Then we got out some small toy dinosaurs.  We basically repeated the activity using that instead of his hand.  He really liked seeing a giant dinosaur on the cabinet doors!  (Note: a paper cutout would be more distinct than a three dimensional toy).

Reflecting Light

We talked about how light reflects off of things.  I had him stand in the hallway next to the door with his back to the wall and tell me what he could see in the bathroom (obviously nothing).  Then I had him use a mirror to look around the corner.  We talked about how light from the bathroom was reflecting off the mirror and letting him see inside.

Playing Color Code on the Light Box

Check out my Alphabet in Simple Science Pinterest Board for more ideas!