Family and Homeschool Activities: Light

These family and homeschool activities are designed to complement the Light topic on BrainPOP Jr.

Reflection

Together with your child, look for your reflections in different objects in your home. You can find your reflection in tea kettles, pots and pans, mirrors, and metal pipes and tools. If you take a walk, your child will see his or her reflection in car doors, and in shop windows. Remind your child that when a light hits a smooth, flat object like a mirror, it bounces back in roughly the same direction. When light hits a bumpy object, it bounces back in different directions. As a result you see a distorted or “funny” reflection. Experiment looking at your reflection in different surfaces and feel free to make funny faces!

Passing Through

Remind your child that light can pass through some objects, but can’t pass through others. Some objects block some light and let some light through. Gather different objects and have your child predict if the object is opaque, transparent, or translucent. Choose a variety of objects such as wooden blocks, a glass, or tissue paper. Then use a flashlight to shine on the object to test your child’s predictions.

Can You Grab It?

Collect a bunch of small objects of different shapes and sizes. Then fill a few big glass bowls or wide glass vases with water. Drop the objects into the containers. Challenge you child to grab the objects while looking at the bowl from above, and then from the side. Discuss how light refracts and bends when it passes from air to water, so this challenge might be trickier than your child expects because the objects may look like they are in a different location, or even as if they are broken.