Teaching light and shadows to KS2 pupils gets much easier when you have resources that match the National Curriculum for England. LearningMole brings you curriculum-aligned videos and hands-on activities, helping Year 3 to Year 6 students see how light travels in straight lines, why shadows form and how they shift during the day. This UK educational platform, created by Michelle Connolly, offers both free and paid materials for primary learners aged 4-11.
“After 15 years in the classroom, I’ve watched children light up when they actually see shadows changing size or notice how transparent objects behave differently,” says Michelle Connolly, founder of LearningMole and a former primary teacher.
The topic opens up loads of chances for practical investigation. Children can explore how shadows form or figure out why we see different colours.
Your students will pick up scientific ideas while building their skills in predicting, observing and recording.
Light and shadow activities give children a way to investigate real-world phenomena they see every day. You might be planning lessons about opaque materials blocking light or setting up torch experiments with objects at different distances.
You’ll find ready-to-use resources that save you prep time and keep pupils interested and curious.
Light moves in straight lines and lets us see the world, while shadows appear when objects block light from reaching a surface. These basic ideas sit at the heart of KS2 science lessons on light and shadows.
Light is a kind of energy that travels in straight lines from a source. You can’t see light itself, but you can see what it lights up.
Light sources make their own light. The Sun stands out as our most important natural light source. Stars, fire and even some animals like fireflies also create their own glow.
We have human-made light sources too, like torches, lamps, candles and light bulbs. These artificial sources help us see when natural light isn’t around.
Understanding the difference between natural and artificial light sources is a key part of the Year 3 science curriculum.
Light travels incredibly fast and always moves in straight lines. That’s why a torch beam points in just one direction.
When light hits objects, it might get absorbed, bounce off, or pass through, depending on what the material is.
Shadows pop up when an opaque object blocks light from reaching a surface behind it. The area where the light can’t reach turns darker and forms a shadow.
You need three things to make a shadow: a light source, something to block the light, and a surface where the shadow appears. If any of these are missing, you won’t get a shadow.
The size and shape of shadows change based on where you put the light source. Move a light closer to the object, and the shadow grows bigger. Move it further away, and the shadow shrinks.
The light’s position also decides where the shadow lands.
Transparent materials like clear glass let light go right through, so they make faint shadows or none at all. Translucent materials, like tissue paper, let some light through and make lighter shadows. Opaque materials, such as wood or metal, block all the light and create the darkest shadows.
Darkness just means no light is present. When light doesn’t reach an area, we call it dark.
Your eyes need light to see things, which is why you can’t see well in very dark places.
Different materials handle light in their own ways. You can try out different materials to see if they are transparent, translucent or opaque.
This hands-on testing helps you get how light behaves with different surfaces.
Light pollution happens when artificial lights brighten the night sky too much. It can affect wildlife and make stargazing tough. Teaching about light pollution helps children see how human actions impact the natural world.
The UK National Curriculum asks Year 3 pupils to recognise that they need light to see things and that darkness is just the absence of light. By Year 6, children build on this and learn how light travels and how we see objects.
Light sources give off their own light, not just reflecting it. The sun, torches, and candles all create light. The moon, though, only reflects light from other sources.
Natural light sources exist without people making them. The sun is the most important natural light source for life on Earth.
It provides daylight and helps plants grow. Stars, fire and some animals like fireflies also make their own light. These creatures create light through chemical reactions in their bodies, sometimes to attract mates or catch prey.
Artificial light sources come from people. Common examples include:
When you teach about light sources, children often think the moon creates its own light. The moon just reflects light from the sun, so it’s not a true light source.
You can help children spot light sources by asking them to look for things that glow or shine by themselves. Try imagining the object in total darkness. Would you still see it shining?
LearningMole has free videos showing children how to find different types of light in their surroundings. Interactive sorting activities let pupils group pictures into light sources and non-light sources.
Around your classroom or home, children might find light sources such as:
This practical task helps children see that light travels in straight lines from these sources.
You can take it further by asking children to draw or photograph light sources they notice over a set time.
Light moves through space in ways we can predict, following certain rules. Understanding how light travels in straight lines and bounces off surfaces helps us see objects around us.
Light always goes in straight lines until something blocks or redirects it. You can show this by shining a torch in a dark room and watching the beam create a straight path.
This explains why shadows form when opaque objects block light from reaching behind them.
When light hits an object it can’t pass through, it doesn’t bend around the edges to fill in the shadow. The light beam keeps going forward in its straight path until it meets the obstacle.
This is why shadows have clear shapes that match the objects blocking the light.
You can show this to pupils with simple items like torches and different shaped objects. Put a ball between a torch and a wall, and the shadow will be circular because light rays travel straight from the torch, hit the ball, and create a dark patch behind it.
We see objects because light bounces off them and enters our eyes. This bouncing is called reflection.
When light hits a surface, it reflects away in straight lines, which is why mirrors make such clear images.
Smooth, shiny surfaces like mirrors reflect light in an organised way. All the light rays bounce off at the same angle, so you get a clear reflection.
Rough surfaces scatter light in lots of directions, which is why you can’t see your face in a brick wall.
Most things you see around you are visible because they reflect light from sources like the sun or lamps. A red jumper looks red because it reflects red light waves and absorbs other colours.
Without light sources and reflection, you wouldn’t see anything at all.
Different materials handle light in three main ways. They might let all the light pass through, block it completely, or let some through while scattering the rest.
Understanding these ideas helps Year 3 and Year 4 pupils see how shadows form and why some things are easier to see through than others.
Transparent materials let light go straight through, so you can see clearly through them. Think clear glass, water or a clean plastic bottle.
When you hold a transparent object up, you can see shapes and colours on the other side without any blur.
Translucent materials let some light through but scatter it as it passes. You can’t see clear images through them. Greaseproof paper, frosted glass and thin fabric are all translucent.
If you shine a torch through these, the light comes out the other side but things behind look blurry.
Opaque materials block light completely and don’t let any through. Wood, metal, cardboard and your hand are all opaque.
These make the darkest shadows because they stop all the light from getting through.
Test if materials are transparent, translucent or opaque by shining a torch through and watching what happens. Set up a simple investigation by putting different materials between a light source and a white screen or wall.
Record how much light comes through each one and if you can see clear shapes.
Try a sorting activity using everyday classroom objects. Give pupils things like cling film, aluminium foil, tissue paper, a ruler and a clear plastic folder.
Ask them to guess which category each belongs to, then test them out. KS2 light resources often include worksheets for this kind of practical work.
Record the results in a table with three columns: transparent, translucent and opaque. This helps children organise their findings and spot patterns in how different materials behave with light.
Shadows show up when light can’t pass through an object and a dark area appears on the other side. Light always travels in straight lines, so shadows form in predictable patterns.
A shadow happens when something blocks light coming from a light source. Light can’t bend around objects, so you see a dark patch where the light would have shone if the object wasn’t there.
Opaque objects are things that don’t let light pass through. Some examples are:
If you stand between a lamp and a wall, your body blocks the light. The light travels in straight lines from the lamp until it hits you.
When this happens, you see your outline as a shadow on the wall. Shadows form because something blocks the light.
The shadow shows up on the surface behind the object. The shape of the shadow matches the outline of whatever stops the light because the light rays can’t curve around to fill in the dark space.
You can try exploring how shadows change during the day by setting up simple investigations in your classroom. Place a toy figure near a torch and see what happens to its shadow when you move the light.
Try out these activities to see how shadows work:
LearningMole has free science videos showing shadow experiments for Year 3 and Year 4. You can use things like books, pencils and rulers to make shadows and see how their shapes appear on walls or tables.
Move an object closer to the torch, and the shadow grows larger. If you move it away, the shadow shrinks.
This happens because light spreads out as it travels.
Shadows change size and shape depending on where the light is and where the object stands. The distance between the light and the object, and the angle of the light, affect how shadows look and move during the day.
The size of a shadow depends on how far the light source is from the object. Bring a torch closer, and the shadow gets bigger. Move it further away, and the shadow shrinks.
The angle of the light source affects how shadows look and their length. When the sun is low in the morning or late afternoon, shadows stretch out long. When the sun sits high above, shadows become short.
You can try this in class by standing a stick or toy upright and shining a torch at different angles and distances. Record the shadow size at each spot to spot the pattern.
Shadow shapes often look different from the real object making them. The shape depends on the angle of the light and the surface where the shadow falls.
As Earth spins, the sun seems to move across the sky. This changes the angle of sunlight all day long.
You can watch shadows move and change shape by checking the same object at different times. Shadows always form on the side opposite the light source.
If the sun rises in the east, shadows point west. At midday, when the sun is highest, shadows are shortest and point north in the UK.
Light acts in lots of interesting ways when it hits or travels through different things. When it bounces off, bends, or splits into colours, you start to see how physics works in real life.
Light travels in straight lines until it hits something and bounces off. We call this reflection.
If you shine a torch at a mirror, the light bounces off at the same angle it hits. Scientists call this the angle of incidence and the angle of reflection.
You can show this by shining a torch at a mirror from different angles. The reflected beam changes direction each time.
Smooth surfaces like mirrors give clear reflections, while rough ones scatter light everywhere. Reflected light activities show that we see most things because light bounces off them and into our eyes.
That’s not the same as looking straight at the sun or a lamp.
Refraction happens when light goes from one material into another and changes speed, so it bends. If you put a pencil in a glass of water, it looks bent or broken at the water’s surface. This happens because light travels at different speeds in air and water.
Glass, water and plastic all bend light, but each does it a bit differently. Teaching resources on refraction and reflection explain these ideas in a way KS2 pupils can get.
Try shining a torch through a clear container of water. The light beam bends as it enters and leaves the water.
White light mixes all the colours of the visible spectrum together. When light passes through water droplets or a glass prism, refraction splits it into red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.
That’s how you get a rainbow.
You can make rainbows in class with a shallow tray of water, a mirror and a torch. Place the mirror in the water at an angle and shine the torch onto it. The reflected light will show rainbow colours on white paper.
Natural rainbows appear when sunlight refracts through millions of water droplets in the air after rain. Hands-on experiments with shadows, refraction and rainbows make science much more fun.
Light comes into your eyes and lets your brain create pictures of your surroundings. Your eyes and light work together so you can see colours, shapes and movement all the time.
Your eyes are complex organs and work a bit like tiny cameras. When you look at something, light bounces off it and travels in straight lines into your eyes.
The light enters through the clear front part called the cornea, then passes through the pupil, which is the black circle in the centre of your eye.
Your pupil changes size depending on how much light is around. In bright light, it shrinks to let in less light. In dim light, it gets bigger to let in more.
Behind the pupil, the lens bends the light rays and focuses them onto the retina at the back of your eye. The retina has millions of special cells called rods and cones.
These cells pick up the light and turn it into electrical signals. The signals travel along the optic nerve to your brain.
Your brain then puts all the signals together and makes the images you see.
Light is essential for vision because without it, your eyes don’t work. You can only see things when light bounces off them and enters your pupils. This explains why you can’t see anything in total darkness.
The amount of light changes how well you can see. Bright light helps you see details and colours clearly.
When it’s dim, colours fade because your cone cells need more light. Rod cells work better in low light, so you can still see shapes and movement even if everything looks grey.
Different types of light change how you see things. Sunlight has all the colours, so it shows the truest colours. Artificial lights like bulbs and torches might not have all the colours, so things can look a bit different.
Children pick up key science skills through hands-on investigations that test how shadows change with different lights, object positions and materials. KS2 science lessons about light give children the chance to practise fair testing, measuring and recording data.
Pupils should start by asking clear questions about shadows, like “Does the distance between a torch and object change the shadow size?” or “Which materials create the darkest shadows?” These questions help children focus on what they’re trying to find out.
Planning investigations means sorting out which things to keep the same and which to change. For a shadow length test, children could keep the torch and object the same but change only the distance.
Ask your class to make predictions before testing. This builds their scientific thinking skills.
You can use LearningMole for free videos that show how to investigate and stay safe with light sources.
Fair testing matters in science. Children need to know why keeping some things the same is important. If they’re testing how object size affects shadow size, they should use the same light source at the same distance for every object.
Tables are great for recording shadow measurements. Pupils can make charts showing the distance from the light and the shadow length in centimetres.
| Distance from Light | Shadow Length |
|---|---|
| 5cm | 12cm |
| 10cm | 8cm |
| 15cm | 6cm |
Drawings and labelled diagrams help children show what they’ve found. They should label the light source, opaque object and shadow clearly.
Photos of shadows at different times make good evidence too.
Bar charts let children compare results from different tests. A Year 3 class might graph how shadows from opaque, translucent and transparent materials differ in darkness.
Pupils should answer their original question using their data as evidence.
Teachers can make light and shadow lessons exciting with practical experiments and creative projects. These activities help Year 3 and Year 6 pupils see how light travels and interacts with objects.
You can find loads of KS2 light and shadow activities to support working scientifically and make these tricky ideas easier to understand.
Pupils get the most out of shadow investigations when they use torches to see how changing the distance changes shadow size. Set up stations so children can measure shadows at different times, then jot down their results in simple tables.
This links nicely with National Curriculum aims around recognising that light travels in straight lines.
BBC Bitesize offers interactive learning resources that you can use alongside practical activities. Pupils try shining light through different objects to see which are opaque, translucent or transparent.
LearningMole has free videos that explain how shadows form. These videos help children make predictions about what will happen if they move the light source or change the shape of the object.
Teachers often say shadow puppet activities keep children engaged. Children cut out card characters and see how moving the torch changes their puppet’s shadow on a white screen.
Silhouette art projects blend science with design skills. Pupils can trace their own shadow profiles or layer paper in shades of grey and black to make scenes.
Twinkl’s light worksheets include templates for shadow theatres and reflection experiments. These resources help you plan lessons that meet the curriculum and keep children interested.
You can use water, prisms or clear containers to show how light bends. Ask Year 6 pupils to put pencils in water glasses and notice how the pencils look “broken,” then talk through what’s happening.
Creating rainbows with prisms helps children explore the visible light spectrum. Challenge them to make their own colour wheels or see which surfaces reflect light best.
Students often pick up the wrong ideas about how light works. Teachers need specific ways to tackle these misunderstandings and encourage scientific curiosity.
Many children think vision works as a passive process. They often believe our eyes send out beams to see, instead of realising that light bounces off objects and enters our eyes.
Practical demonstrations help sort this out.
Another myth: pupils sometimes see shadows as just dark shapes, not understanding what causes them. Tackling these tricky concepts needs hands-on investigation where pupils block light and see what happens.
Teachers sometimes hope one explanation will fix confusion, but these ideas need repeating through different activities.
Some educators think teaching reflection only means using mirrors. Pupils actually learn more when they explore how shiny metals and rough paper reflect light differently.
Let pupils share their ideas before you explain the science. Try asking, “Why do you think your shadow is longer in the morning?” and write down their guesses.
This helps children understand, not just memorise.
Use torches, random objects and white paper to let children try things out for themselves. Interactive learning resources let pupils test their theories and draw their own conclusions.
Encourage them to measure shadows at different times or trace light paths with string.
Give children the chance to explain their thinking to classmates. When they talk about why shadows form or how light travels, they learn the science better and help others too.
Teachers and parents often need practical advice about running light and shadow lessons, from finding good materials to demonstrating concepts in the classroom.
Hands-on experiments really help Year 3 pupils get to grips with light and shadows. Set up a simple task where children move objects closer to or further from a torch, then measure how the shadow changes.
Shadow puppet theatres let children see how opaque objects block light to make shadows. Give them torches and different shapes to test how an object’s outline affects its shadow.
Try outdoor activities using the Sun as your light source. Take the class outside, trace shadows at different times, and talk about how the Sun’s position changes shadow length and direction.
The Oak National Academy offers free Year 3 science lessons on making shadows, including quizzes and downloadable resources. These fit the National Curriculum and you don’t need a subscription.
LearningMole has science videos and teaching materials for KS2 light topics. Michelle Connolly, a former primary teacher, created these free resources to cover how light travels and how shadows form.
BBC Bitesize has interactive resources for ages 7-11, with videos and activities that explain shadow formation. You can use these anytime, no account needed.
Start by showing that light travels in straight lines and can’t bend around objects. Use a torch in a dark room to show the beam moving forward until something blocks it.
Show how shadows form when opaque objects stop light from passing through. Let children hold different materials up to a torch to see which ones create dark, pale or no shadows.
Make it personal. Use the children themselves as the objects blocking light. Have them stand at different distances from a torch and watch how their shadow size changes. It’s a fun way to connect the science to their lives.
Building a sundial links light and shadows to telling the time. Pupils can use a stick or pencil in modelling clay, then mark where the shadow falls each hour on a sunny day.
A shadow investigation project lets children test variables. They measure how shadow length changes when they move an object closer to or further from the light, recording results in tables or graphs.
Creating shadow art mixes science and creativity. Children can arrange several light sources to make overlapping shadows or design shadow puppets that tell a story when lit from behind.
Twinkl offers KS2 light and shadows worksheets with challenges for younger Key Stage 2 pupils. These cover ideas like opaque, translucent and transparent materials.
Interactive quizzes let students check their knowledge of shadows and reflections. You’ll find online quizzes that cover how shadows form and why they change during the day.
Activity sheets with experiments guide children to record shadow measurements at different distances. These usually include tables for data and questions that get children thinking about their results.
When you move a light source higher above an object, the shadow gets shorter. Try raising a torch above a toy and watch as the shadow shrinks on the ground.
Shadows look longest when the light sits low and points sideways at something. Put a torch near the floor and you’ll see a long shadow stretching across the ground.
The shadow always shows up on the side opposite the light source. Let kids move a torch around an object in a circle. They can watch the shadow swing round to stay on the far side from the light, which helps them guess where shadows will land next.
Leave a Reply