Shadow Colors

What You Need:

• Power strip
• Three plug-in light socket adaptors
• Red light bulb
• Green light bulb
• Blue light bulb
• White wall

What You Do:

1. Help your child screw the colored light bulbs into the plug-in light socket adaptors.
2. Have her gently place each socket adaptor and bulb into the power strip.
3. Let her plug in the power strip into an outlet near her white wall.
4. Make sure all of the other lights in the room are off. (If natural light keeps getting in -- through windows or skylights, consider waiting to conduct the experiment at night.
5. Create shadows on the wall with your child using your hands. What do she see on the walls? Are her shadows different colors?
6. Encourage your child to see how the shadows vary when the lights are near the wall versus farther away. What other things can she observe about the shadows?

Colored shadows don’t just inspire scientific investigations: your child could even stage a shadow color puppet production with her friends!