Science can happen in unexpected places and times, like the closet before supper. With a new birthday gift, the kids had science fun with flashlights.
Little Sister got not just one, but two flashlights for her birthday, just in time for summer camping. Great minds must have been in tune thinking about what a preschooler could use that was both playful and practical. A couple of days later, while playing with the new gifts, the kids needed a room that was dark. Since it was still daylight, the only dark place was the closet. So that’s where they played.
First, they had fun just shining the flashlights around. It made the clothes seem almost alive when they appeared out of the dark. They shone the flashlights on the wall and made various shadow puppets with hands, feet, or other body parts. Little Sister liked to wiggle her fingers and see how the shadows would move.
Big Sister noticed that hands appeared much, much bigger when she shone the flashlight on the ceiling. We talked about why that could be. Little Sister wasn’t interested in figuring that out, but was quite impressed that her hand could be “big like a monster.”
They also figured out that two flashlights made two circles so they moved their flashlights to try and ‘get’ the other person’s circle. This was a fun game, and even though the space was small, they managed to be fairly physical. There was a fair amount of giggling and squealing too.
It was impossible to take a photo of these circles dancing around all over in the closet, plus it was pretty crowded with me in there trying to take a picture. I gave up on that part. Even with the door opened the picture is very blurry!
When the party balloons finally deflate, we might try stretching them over the top of the flashlights to see if we can make colored lights. Guess we’ll need to go back in the closet. Can your child have some science fun with flashlights?
For fun everyday, come over for the play-of-the-day!
