Exploring Light

This week the 1-2s have been learning about light. Today children visited different stations set up with light experiments and explorations. 

At one table, Mrs. M. used a flashlight to demonstrate how our pupils dilate and and contract in response to how much light they are exposed to in order to regulate the light needed by our eyes to see.  Also at this station kids got to try on "bug lens" glasses which showed them the ways that insect eyes perceive the world visually. Kids also liked finding rainbows when they looked through prisms - they learned that ROY G. BIV is a mnemonic device to help remember the color of the rainbow when light is split apart into its spectrum. 

At another table, a shadow puppet theater was set up. Kids created scenes with the various characters and setting elements as well as examining the effect of light on their puppets depending on proximity to the light - puppets moved closer to the light source grew larger whereas puppets moved away from the light source appeared smaller on the screen. 

A third table had light boxes that students used to test various materials (cloth, paper, cardboard, foil, wax paper, color paddles, and so forth) to see how much light (if any) could pass through. Opaque objects blocked all light (like cardboard), transparent materials allowed all light to pass through (like glass), while translucent objects (like sunglasses) allowed some light to pass through. 

One final station challenged children to conduct a beam of light from a flashlight to hit a target using mirrors as reflecting agents. They learned that light travels in a straight line and that only the use of such reflective surfaces could change its direction to aim at a target that was not straight ahead. 

Our young scientists were fascinated by these activities and had lots to say about the experience. We love the curious and inquisitive minds of our 1-2 learners! Check out the pictures below of our scientists at work!