Ways to expand it:
- Use mirrors to move the light in different directions.
- Find materials of different colors that you can see through. Color wax paper or tissue paper with markers. Experiment with mixing colors as the light travels through more than one material.
What kids learn:
- Experimentation! When kids experiment, they're learning how to learn. Failure is an important part of experimenting, so let kids try things that won’t work. It’s how they figure things out!
- Hand eye coordination. Young children can use activities like light exploration to help improve communication between their minds and bodies.
- Investigate. Determine the effects of placing objects made of different materials in the path of light beams.
- Fine motor skills. Kids practice using the small muscles in their hands later used for writing.
- Vocabulary:
- Translucent: allows light, not shapes, to pass through.
- Transparent: allows light through so that shapes behind can be seen.
- Opaque: does not allow light to be seen through.