Have fun with shadows -- no matter what the weather -- and help children express their feelings with movement and dance.

Materials:

• White sheet
• Flashlight or high intensity lamp
• Background music on record/cassette/CD
• Record/cassette/CD player

Directions:

Ask the children what they know about shadows. Have the children tell you about the different shadows they have seen and when they have seen them. If it's a sunny day, take the children outside to see shadows of familiar objects on the playground. Or, take them on a walk inside the school to discover shadows. Back inside, talk with the children about the differences between shadows and the real person or thing.

Suspend a sheet from a doorway to make a "shadow screen." Place a flashlight or a high-intensity lamp about six feet behind the screen. Put on some background music, and let two or three children dance between the light and sheet to make their shadows dance. The rest of the class can watch the shadows from the other side of the screen. Give each child at least one turn.

You can use shadow play in other ways, too, such as through pantomiming activities, making animal shapes or guessing what objects are by their shadows.

Back to Theme