Could a Statue’s Shadow Move?

A series of videos guide you through a hands-on activity that help you to answer the question: could a statue’s shadow move? Note: a printer is required.

Scroll down to read real reviews from educators and parents with helpful tips and tricks!

Time Needed:: 30-45 minutes
Grade:: Kindergarten, 1st Grade
Subject:: Earth & Environment, Physics

Educator Rating:

4.3

Parent Rating:

3.9

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Educator Reviews

4.3

Based on 6 reviews

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Karen

This is definitely a great activity for younger students to explore shadows and why a shadow moves for inanimate objects. Although, this activity has some great handouts they are not necessary for you students to be able to experience this activity. Students can track the shadow movement similar to the video by placing any object outside and tracing its shadow on a piece of paper throughout the day to observe the changes. The second way a student can do this activity is for the parent to trace a few shadows on a piece of paper with a flashlight on an object in 3 different positions and having the student try to match the shadow by moving the flashlight. I recommend tracing each shadow position with a different color so that it'll be easier to see. A fun extension may be to have students make different shadow shapes with various objects.

Jasmine

This is a great, very interactive lesson with not too much setup. While there are a few pages to print out, they can be easily remade by hand. For the paper gnome, there are two simple alternatives: make your own paper cut out or use a toy that can stand on its own, then trace its shadow at different angles and try to have the kids reproduce the shadows outlines you traced.

Mr. Brian

This resource is all about shadows and how to manipulate them. It has an activity component and a video component. The video component asks questions for a student led discussion about how shadows can move. The activity is creating a simple pop up gnome which you can move a light source around. Through doing this , students learn the two ways to make a shadow move are by moving the light source and by moving the object itself. This activity is fun if not a bit simplistic. I would recommend this activity for younger learners but wish it had more science behind it.

Annonymous

I love this activity because it's well designed. The video is very helpful with providing background info. The lesson is short and easy to follow. Students are able to do it on their own.

Jordan

The educational value of this activity is a good learning potential for Kindergartners. This activity can be done individually with limited supplies. If unable to access the materials from the site, then everyday items can be used, a shadow just needs to be cast with some patience and time. The quality of the content is organized, in-depth and user friendly. This activity is fun and engaging a good recommendation for understanding why and how shadows move.

Cindy

This is a simple activity, but very thorough with high fun potential. The site provides everything besides a flashlight, but has awesome print outs and more than one experiment to illustrate shadow movement.

Parent Reviews

3.9

Based on 2 reviews

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Annonymous

Parental guidance needed simply because of the age of my student. I believe a student who is a little older could do this activity solo. This was a fun activity to do, especially right now with the shelter in place orders in my state/county. My 6 year old child really enjoyed watching how the shadow changed throughout the day. When we first watched the instructional video he said, "there is no way a statue could move shadows." So, he was quite surprised to learn that shadows do move. This was a enjoyable and educational activity for student and parent.

Annonymous

This was a fun activity for me to do with my daughter. Unfortunately, we didn't see where we would print out the gnome template to do the activities along with the video. Mainly because we didn't know to scroll down below the video to print them out. I did find them after we watched the video and saw the "scroll for prep" but didn't read it so it's 100% user error. In order for a child to access all the materials, a parent would need to be present, especially since we failed to notice them even with my guidance. We could not access the three readings as it asked for a username and password for realworks.org.

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