Saturday Art: Shadow Play

This week, the students had a chance to learn about how shadows are made, and experiment with making some of their own.

We started by reading a storybook about a bunny rabbit and his shadow, before jumping right in to making shadows with projectors. The students were excited to see their hands appear in large shadow form in front of them, and started calling out what shapes they were making. Some of the things I heard were : “I’m making circles with my fingers” “Mine looks like a Zelda Shield!” and “I need another finger to make a square!”.

Once we had a chance to make some shadows, I asked the students if they’d like to work together. If one student made a shape with their hands on the projector, another could trace what they saw, to preserve the image. Here students had a challenge. Some learned quickly that if they stood to the side to trace, their own shadow wouldn’t get in the way of the light. Others had more trouble, and were frustrated when their shadows, or the shadows of others, got in the way.

If I were to do the lesson over again, I would provide a stronger demonstration, and do some guided practice to make sure there was enough scaffolding for the students to be truly successful.