Light Activities

We've been doing a few activities lately as part of our study of light in science. The main concepts we work with are that we can only see if there is light available or if an object makes its own light, some objects let light pass through and others block light, and we can use light to communicate. 

We sorted objects around our classroom into groups depending on if they were transparent, translucent, or opaque. (We also used the language see-through, kind of see-through, and not see-through.) 

We made "stained glass" flowers in order to beautify our basement classroom with something that was translucent-- although we noticed that wherever multiple pieces of tissue paper overlapped it was more opaque.

We also thought about if there was a way to communicate, or send a simple message, using only light...any ideas? We learned that this is exactly what a stop light does! 

We made up our own simple color-coded signals with a partner, and then turned out the lights, shined a flashlight through one color at a time, and watched our partner follow the instructions of the message. Students found this so exciting they wanted a blank copy to take home!