Inside: more than 25 interesting collections Learning activities about light Suitable for pre-K through third grade and comes with picture book suggestions for you to use in your investigations.
Today, we’re sharing a list of cool, easy activities for you to use in your next study investigation. From fireflies to the sun and moon, from flashlights to glow sticks, we’ve got suggestions for experiments and activities to explore all different light sources.
These light-hearted activities are perfect for teachers, early educators, and parents who want to incorporate this fun learning topic into their classrooms and homes.
25+ light learning activities for pre-K through 2nd grade
Learn about the light of fireflies
1. Start with brainstorming inspired by books: Eric Carle’s “The Very Lonely Firefly” is actually a good starting point for this topic, as fireflies find different sources of light when looking for friends.
Before reading the book with your students, brainstorm a list of as many different light sources as the children can think of? Record their responses in a collaborative mind map, or invite independent writers to create individual or group mind maps.
When you’re done, share the story of The Very Lonely Firefly.
2. Firefly drawing: The 5 year olds in my class recently created wonderful firefly pictures inspired by the book “The Lonely Firefly”. They started by cutting a small piece of shiny paper to represent the illuminated end of the firefly’s abdomen, then painted on the rest of its body, head and wings, and finally decorated the black background of the night sky. I was surprised at how well regular colored pencils looked on black paper.
shadow, Light and color activities
Explore the interplay of shadow, light and color with these fun activity ideas.
3.Shadow Shape: Kids are fascinated by their shadows and there are tons of cool activities you can do related to making shadows! kids can Work in pairs or small groups to create cool body shapes and then trace the shadows with chalk (from Tinkerlab).
4.Shadow drawing: Or, on a smaller scale, this LEGO Shadow Painting from the Innovative Kids Lab Adaptable to using a variety of toys or natural materials to create fun shadow paintings.
5. Book link: Looking for a book of shadows to explore? read “The Shape of Me and Other Things” by Dr. Seuss Together.
6. Shadow puppets: Divide students into groups and try making Make your own shadow puppets and stage a puppet show (From the ALSC Blog).
7. Color Shades: For the ultimate wow! At that moment, why not Use this tutorial to create colored shadows Fun from the inner child.
8. Rainbow filter: explore Make color filters with light from the sun with this simple Kandinsky-inspired art project.
9. Capture the sunshine: make Cosmic Sun Catcher with Babble Dabble Do.
10. DIY Kaleidoscope (Plus More Color and Light Exploration): In our e-book Rainbows and Kaleidoscopes, you’ll find DIY kaleidoscope crafts and 24 other STEM activities that explore color and light.
Day and night: relaxing activities to explore the sun, moon and stars
Continue exploring the most amazing lights in the sky – the sun, moon and stars! Here are some fun ways to explore their wonder together…
11. Day and night experiments around the world: Introduce concepts With this simple demonstration, travel around the world day and night From Learning to Play with Imagination. All you need is a globe and a torch.
12.Pizza Box Oven: If the climate where you are is warm and sunny, Test the sun’s warmth with a pizza box oven (This point comes from What I Can Teach My Children).
13. Solar melting experiment: You can also Test what melts in the sun (Taken from Frugal Fun 4 Boys & Girls).
14. Sun Melted Rainbow Crayons: or try Recycle broken crayons by making sun-melted crayons (Taken from No Time for Flashcards).
15. Star search: Read great content, be inspired, and catch the stars “How to Catch the Stars” by Oliver Jeffers then make your Make your own star cheese puffs, perfect for morning or afternoon tea.
16. Starry Night Creation: There are many children’s art ideas inspired by Van Gogh’s “Starry Night”, but These starry night plasticine creations (from Early Years Down Under on Facebook) is my favorite. You can also see Their wonderful group collage is here.
17. Book link: Support your students’ interest in Van Gogh’s paintings with this book, “Katie and the Starry Night” by James Mayhew.
torch Relaxing activities
18. Torchlight Fun: an interesting way Modify reading common words or spelling words Just darken the room and hide the text (written on the cards) around the room. Children can then search and explore with a flashlight, reading the text as they shine the light. For more information, see A Little Learning from Two People.
19. Book link: Read this wonderful picture book Flashlight designed by Lizi Boyd.
20. Take your pencil for a walk: Inspired by the book “Flashlight,” use white and colored pencils or crayons to draw on black paper what you might see while walking in the dark.
glow stick pleasure
21. Disco Discovery Bottle: Design your own disco discovery bottle (via Babble Dabble Do) or Glow-in-the-dark sensory bottle.
22. Luminous letters: make Glow stick letters And use them to play letter recognition games or form sight words or spelling words.
Relevant: For more content like this, check out our collection 50 pages of alphabet hands-on learning activities.
lantern Relaxing activities
23.DIY lantern: There are so many ideas for making beautiful lanterns – I suggest you try them These Gorgeous Tissue Paper Lid Jars (via Picklebums)
24. Recycled Bottle Lantern: or These lanterns are simply decorated with recycled bottles (Go explore nature).
25. Fairy Garden: For projects with children, battery-operated tea lights are safer. I love how my little potatoes get creative with them This beautiful little fairy garden world in a basket.
fairy lights
26. Just for fun: Add a little magic to your classroom this week by decorating your classroom with fairy lights. You can even create a cozy reading nook out of a tent or large cardboard box. See this article from Lessons Learned Magazine for inspiration.
27: Book link: Inspired by the brightly lit dollhouse in Margaret Wise Brown’s children’s classic Goodnight Moon Create your own glowing dollhouse with fairy lights (Taken from “Cunning Parents”).
28. Write about light: Check out these awesome, free, printable writing prompts inspired by the theme Light!
Related learning resources
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