You'll need

  • Yourself
  • A sunny day
  • Chalk
  • An area of concrete, pavement or tile
  • A large toy or object 

What to do

  1. Go outside on a sunny morning and investigate the shadows you can see. 
  2. Stand on an area of concrete and look at your own shadow. 
  3. Get a grown-up to trace around your shadow with chalk, also trace around your feet so that you can stand in exactly the same spot later on. 
  4. Go outside again a couple of hours later, stand in the same spot and investigate how your shadow has changed. Trace around your shadow again. 
  5. Look at where the sun is in the sky, talk about why your shadow is changing.
  6. Try this experiment with some of your toys too! 

Questions to ask

  • What’s the weather like when you can see your shadow? 
  • Do shadows outside stay the same throughout the day or do they change?
  • Can you predict where will your shadow be later in the day? 
  • Is there a way to guess what the shadow will look like by looking at the object beforehand?
  • Does the shape of an object's shadow always stay the same?

What's Happening

During the day your shadow will move and change in size and shape. This happens because the Earth turns around (rotates) and the direction that the sun is shining from changes. When the sun shines on an object from a different angle, the amount of light blocked changes and this changes the shape and size of the shadow.