Weather School / First Weather · ages 2 to 5
Sunny Days
Where is your shadow hiding today?
The mission: guess first, then go look
Guess where your shadow will land when you step outside: in front of you, behind you, or somewhere sneaky.
Now go find it. Was it where you guessed? Find a tree's shadow too, and a car's. Every single one is on the same side.
When the sun shines, its light lands on you and warms your skin.
It warms the sidewalk and the grass and the top of the rock too.
Sunny days make sharp dark shadows on the ground.
Professor Weather Rock says
Sunlight takes about eight minutes to reach you. The light warming your arm left the sun before breakfast.
Rocktivity Time!
Pick a door. Every door is a good one.
Move like the weather
Be a shadow. Stand flat and stiff, stuck to your grown-up's feet, and copy every move they make without a sound. Shadows never get to choose. That is the whole job.
Ask them
“Does the sun feel warm on your arm? Is the sidewalk warm too?”
The Rocktivity
Put one hand in the sun and one hand in the shade. Count to twenty. Which hand is warmer?
When the sun is out, try this
Lay a spoon, a rock, and a toy side by side on the sidewalk in the sun. Guess which one will feel warmest after ten minutes, then go touch them one by one. The sun heats some things faster, and your hand can find out which.
Is the rock right?
You looked with your own eyes. The rock is outside looking too. Ask it what it sees, then decide together who read the sky better.
Words we learned
For the grown-up
That hand game is the whole of kindergarten standard K-PS3-1: sunlight warms Earth's surface. You just taught it in twenty seconds.
Rocktivity
Take it off the screen
A colouring sheet with the big word to trace, plus the whole lesson in print. Free for any home or classroom.
The trail continues
You found your shadow. Now leave it somewhere: stand on a spot, remember what your shadow is touching, and come back after a snack. Is it still where you left it?
The Shadow Clock catches it sneaking.