Activity on light for infants

Materials: mirror, flashlight, magnifying glass, paper plate, piece of

paper, pencil.
Skills: predicting, observing, speaking.
Length of activity: approximately 45- 1 hour.
Age group: 4-6 year olds

Science experiments are always a big hit in my house and this light experiment for kids will
brighten everyone’s day – literally! 

Science activities are always a great time to practice using fun science terms. This simple light
science experiment introduces some new ones:

 penetrate: or when light will pass through an object to be visible on the other side
 reflect: or when the light bounces back at you, like with a mirror or something shiny
 stop: or when the light is blocked, not reflecting or penetrating
 variable: what changes in different steps on the experiment
write down these words and their meanings on a piece of paper or flashcards or use actual words
or draw a picture

Before the experiment note that:

This simple science experiment includes an opportunity for making predictions and recording
observations.

Predicting is just making a guess based on what you already know.

How to begin:

You could get started by asking your kids: “What do you know about light?”

Create a quick and simple legend for the light experiment.

Write down your children’s predictions and make a quick chart. One column is for the prediction
and the other is for the observation, plus some rows for the variables.

Label the rows with the names of your three objects, or variables (what’s changing each time).
Hint: mirror, magnifying glass, plate, etc.

At the top of one column write: “What will the light do?”. (Prediction)

And then above the other column, write: “What does the light do?”. (Observations)
As you experiment, you’ll also jot down what happens with the light, or what you observe.
Observe and observation in science is just a fancy way to explain telling what you saw
happening during the experiment.

Ask these helpful questions as you predict what happens:

 Will the light penetrate the paper plate or will it stop?
 Will the light reflect off of the magnifying glass or penetrate?
 And will the mirror stop the light?

Take time to look at each object, discuss the three terms associated with light (penetrate, reflect,
stop).

Make predictions, or guesses, about what the light will do with each object.

Write your predictions in the first column of the chart.

Eg on chart above.

Once your predictions are made and the properties of light have been discussed, it’s time to do
the experiment.

Choose the first object and have your kids shine the flashlight at the object.

Watch how the light reacts with the object. Does it shine through, shine back at you, or stop
completely?

Record on your observation chart what the light did with that object. Check to see if their
predictions were correct.

Keep going with the rest of the objects, making sure to observe and record your findings.

Then encouraged them to explain what they noticed about the light. Was the light shining back at
us or reflecting?

Then talked for a minute about using “reflect” to describe what the light was doing.
The end