Playing with Mirrors
Contributed by:
Mark
Age Range: 5 to 11
Mark
Age Range: 5 to 11
Here are a number of activities that you can try to develop children's understanding of light, how it travels, and how it can be reflected:
Travelling Smilies
- This activity works best in a really dark room.
- Draw a simple image on an interactive whiteboard screen... in the past, I have used a small smiley face.
- Put the mirror in front of the projected image and bounce it to another point in the room.
- Tilt the mirror at different angles and watch the face 'travel' around the room.
- Ask a child to try this and challenge them to reflect the face onto different parts of the classroom.
- Then, ask a child to hold another mirror. Angle the first mirror so that the face reflects onto the second mirror.
- How many times, using lots of different mirrors, can you bounce / reflect the face around the classroom?
What's on top of the table?
- Ask a child to sit carefully underneath a table at the front of the room.
- Place an object on top of the table and ask them to identify what it is... without moving.
- Ask them how this task could be made easier.
- Give them a mirror and ask them to identify the object now.
- Can they explain how they can see the object, even though they are under the table and the object is on top?
Post-It Challenge
- Ask the children to get into pairs.
- Tell child A to draw a simple picture on a Post-It note and stick it onto the back of their partner (B).
- Give the pair of children some mirrors and ask child B to use the mirrors to work out what picture has been drawn.
Do you have any other good ideas involving mirrors? Leave a comment and we'll add them to this page.
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