TEACH PRESCHOOL SCIENCE
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      • Follow That Scent
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      • Keep Those Muscles Moving!
    • Physical Science Index >
      • Blowing Bubbles
      • Magnify!
      • Ways to Measure Time
      • Magnetic Attraction
      • Ramps in Motion
      • Ice Melting
      • Sink or Float a Boat
      • Sponges and water
      • Dropping Things Through the Air
      • Static Electricity
      • Battery Electricity
      • Properties of Soap and Water
      • Weights and Balances
      • How Can Heat Change Things?
      • Tools Can Help Us Do Things
      • Lifting with Levers
      • Earth and Sky Science Index >
        • Shadow Chasing
        • Sun Effects
        • The Night Sky
        • Kinds of Clouds
        • Dressing for the Season
        • Classifying Rocks
        • Colors of the Rainbow
        • Who Has Seen the Wind?
        • Rain
        • Snow
        • Litter Hunt
        • We Can Take Care of the Earth
      • Wheels
      • Predicting How Simple Machines Will Work
      • Computers and Other Devices
      • Discoveries With Straws
      • Different Ways of Making Light
  • Teaching Notes
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Different Ways of Making Light


Core Learning Experience + Supplies and Equipment

  • ​Turn off the lights. How can we see each other? Our sun gives light so we can see, and energy so we can be warm. What happens at night? 
  • Show a light bulb, and explain that before Thomas Edison invented a light bulb, people had to use other ways of seeing things at night. Talk about fire, candles, mirrors and reflections, gaslight, lightning etc.
  • Flashlights use battery power. When all the energy is used from the battery, the flashlight cannot work, and the batter must be replaced with a new one. The used battery must be discarded.
  • Set up a discovery table for “light” – include candles, flashlights, small mirrors, metal spoons, colored cellophane, color paddles, batteries, wires, models of sun, earth, moon; model periscope; paper and markers, and books. (Light bulbs with supervision).

Possible/Expected Discoveries

  • ​Light is necessary for people to see, work and play. We have natural light from the sun, but we also need forms of artificial light, such as that provided by electricity and batteries. Take the children into a room with no windows and turn the lights out. Would we be able to eat dinner, read a book, get dressed etc?
  • When we look into a mirror, we can see our face. When we look into a mirror in a dark room, can we still see our face? I wonder why/why not? Light reflects (bounces back) from the mirror so we can see ourselves. The dimmer the light, the darker our reflection.
  • When we put a translucent piece of cellophane or a color paddle in front of a flashlight lens, we can change the color of the light, and anything it shines on.

Extended Learning and Other Curriculum Areas

  • ​​Play Red Light, Green Light with 2 flashlights with cells over the lens.
  • Paint a big sun with hot, fiery colors.
  • Create shadow silhouettes in a dark room with a flashlight.
  • Pretend you are living in the days when light bulbs were not invented yet. Tell us about how you would see things at night. Make a picture and teacher write the words.
  •  Play “123, look and see” (what is missing?) with light source items and pictures.
Preschool science activities - light

Activity Packs and Printables

Websites

Light theme activities for preschool
Sun theme activities and printables for preschool

Books

​Switch On, Switch Off by Melvin Berger

USEFUL LINKS

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This site is sponsored and supported by the preschool themes site www.KidSparkz.com
Activities written by (c) Susan Portman
Pre-K, Kindergarten, First, Second, Third, Homeschooler - TeachersPayTeachers.com
Copyright © 2005-2023 Teach Preschool Science - Permission granted to reproduce for personal educational use only. Commercial copying or selling is prohibited. No part of this resource may be uploaded to, or published on, any other site for any reason.
  • Home
  • Lesson Plans Index
    • Life Science Plants and Animals >
      • Comparing Leaves
      • Exploring Pumpkins
      • Shucking Corn
      • Earthworm Observation
      • Parent and Baby Animals
      • Collecting Ants
      • Spider Season
      • Visit to a Pet Store
      • Living and Non Living Things
      • Animals Come in Many Shapes, Sizes and Colors
      • Ways Animals Move
      • Animals Need to Eat
      • Difference Between Wild and Tame Animals
      • People Can Use Products Provided by Animals and Plants
      • Animal Coverings - Hair, Fur, Feathers, Scales and Skin
      • Animals Live in Different Places
      • Metamorphosis and Change in Biology
      • Nocturnal Animals
      • Egg Science
      • Exploring Fish
      • Tree Skin Bark
      • Roots Growing Potatoes in Water
      • Stems - Making Daisy and Clover Chains
      • Flowers
      • Digging in the Dirt
    • Life Science People Index >
      • Parts of Our Body and How We Use Them
      • Our Heart
      • Our Hands
      • Our Feet
      • Fun With Balance
      • Sound Search
      • Sense of Touch
      • Exploring the Sense of Sight
      • Follow That Scent
      • Stop That Germ!
      • Interesting Tools That Doctors Use
      • We Need Healthy Teeth
      • Keep Those Muscles Moving!
    • Physical Science Index >
      • Blowing Bubbles
      • Magnify!
      • Ways to Measure Time
      • Magnetic Attraction
      • Ramps in Motion
      • Ice Melting
      • Sink or Float a Boat
      • Sponges and water
      • Dropping Things Through the Air
      • Static Electricity
      • Battery Electricity
      • Properties of Soap and Water
      • Weights and Balances
      • How Can Heat Change Things?
      • Tools Can Help Us Do Things
      • Lifting with Levers
      • Earth and Sky Science Index >
        • Shadow Chasing
        • Sun Effects
        • The Night Sky
        • Kinds of Clouds
        • Dressing for the Season
        • Classifying Rocks
        • Colors of the Rainbow
        • Who Has Seen the Wind?
        • Rain
        • Snow
        • Litter Hunt
        • We Can Take Care of the Earth
      • Wheels
      • Predicting How Simple Machines Will Work
      • Computers and Other Devices
      • Discoveries With Straws
      • Different Ways of Making Light
  • Teaching Notes
  • Links
  • Contact