patterns on the light projector

I filled up this clear Ikea container with an assortment of colorful transparent objects and worked with the children to make patterns. 

First though, I let them explore on their own and they dumped objects on the projector in their haste to touch and see everything at once:

Then I explained how we had to place the objects with purpose and notice the effect it made on the wall projection, and how we could organize the materials to make patterns:

These were the results: 

Images from the projector are a lot more colorful:

Some dialog from the children:
K: If you put this one on top of this one the reflection is orange.
K: No, don't put that one there it doesn't look nice. 
D: Sprinkle it all over the place! Oh, it's getting more black. 
K:Can you hand me those squares?
D: Those aren't squares, those are angles. 
Ms. Erin: Rectangles?
D: Yeah. Rectangles.

water, sunlight, and mirrors

This was supposed to be a lesson on refraction, but there wasn't much sun today so we had fun with reflection instead. I love taking the curriculum outside whenever possible. Sunlight is always preferable to fluorescent light and an added bonus was dipping our hands in cold water on a hot day.


I filled up some smallish white  tubs with two sizes of mirrors. One tub had clear water and one tub was tinted a pale purple. 

Later I added some colored translucent shapes to spice things up since there wasn't any direct sunlight. 

I didn't document any of their thoughts today because my hands were busy in the tubs as well! 

The end! 

light and shadow study in the block area

I took our projector out of the light studio and set it up in the block area for a change of pace. 

The children went to town, literally! Buildings, and towers and castles went up right away, though they had to work on getting out of the way of the projector light to see their structures and figure out the best distance away from the projector to put their work.

They were moving so fast I didn't get a chance to document their words. Although I do remember lots of gasps of, "It's beautiful." I also remember someone calling the rainbow blocks "reflection blocks."