Heat and Light activities

[Ruthierhyme]

These are some basic lesson ideas that can be adapted and extended to suit your age group or planning needs for any specific aspects of the Heat & Light topics you want to cover ...

HEAT

1. Heat generating appliance sorting

Fill a table with either replica toy versions or pictures and ask the children to sort them into 2 categories - Heat makers and Plain items

Discussions can revolve around ..

What job each item does.
Why heat is needed for that job eg. to cook food,
If the item is familiar to the child
If they consider it dangerous and why.

Some items to use ...
Plain ~ ordianary everyday objects!
Heat Generators
Iron
Toaster
Kettle
Light bulb - would have to be a play plastic one
Oven
Tumble dryer
Hairdryer


2. Candles
This subject covers light as well.
ACTIVITY
Have a selection of wax and wick available for the children to mould their own shapes.
Look, touch, and smell a variety of candles that are available to buy.

Talk about what a candle does - Light the room and produce heat from the flame - hence why candles can burn.

3. The Sun
Summer .. do the children remember how the heat of summer feels - and the sort of activities they do in warmer weather.

Have story books available in the library area that cover the heat of Summer and cold of winter and look at the differences in these two seasons.
List a selection of activities for each season and see if the children can place them in the right one ~ bearing in mind that some will be done in both depending on the childs personal experiences !!

Have some Sun & Snowflake stickers so that they can mark off each activity under the seasons title.

SUMMER WINTER
Building Sandcastles Seeing trees without leaves
Eating Icecreams Watching steamy breath !
Making Daisy Chains Wrapping presents
Wearing Shorts Putting on gloves

4. Body heat
Physical exrcise ~ use a large rug/carpet area to examine how physical activity makes our bodies heat up !

Running on the spot
Touching toes and reaching for the stars


5. Body heat
keeping warm - Clothing
Use the dressing up rail as an activity area to look at and try on different types of clothes worn for cold weather or for hot weather (depending on which subject best fits your theme)

5. Heat - Water
A water tray activity .. lay out 3 hand washing bowls out one with cold water & ice cubes .. one with luke warm water in and one with Warm water in.

What so of temperatures does the water need to be for these activities ..

Swimming
Baths
Showers
Paddling in the sea
Making a Cup of Tea/Coffee
Where Penguins swim!

6. Food heat

. Cooking foods with heat...
Scrambled egg - Look at the fluid egg and how heating it makes it solid.
Melting Chocolate - Chocolate that is solid becomes fluid when heated
Making Jelly - Solid cubes of jelly melt in hot water and then set again when cold.

. Looking at food that create heat ~ Spices, fruits, Vegetables ~
Radish, Onion.

7. FRICTION

Rubbing ballons together will generate heat and static electricity that you can use as an activity with the children - get them to stick it to the jumpers & trouser legs ! Gently feel the area of the balloon that was rubbed .. can they feel the heat difference.

8. MATERIALS

Polystyrene is warm to the touch
Foils are cold

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LIGHT

1. Torches
If you have a small pop up tent that you can lay blackout sheets over use this as a Light Show arena.

Torches with interchangeable faces.
Shadow making
Fairy lights with 'chaser sequences
Lights with coloured Fibre Optics.


2. Things that are reflective or create reflections
OHP ~ use an Over Head Projector for showing how light creates shadows.
Let the children trace the shadow made by the picture on the OHP.
Mirrors ~ Hand, bathroom, vanity, dressing table, Distorted mirrors,

ACTIVITY IDEAS with mirrors
Self portraits
HairdresserS role play - Use the mirrors to show the children how they can see the back of thier heads !
Making Periscopes
Reflective writing ~ Write the childs name on a large sheet of paper - and let them view it in the mirror .. with 'glass friendly' crayons (or lipstick if allowed) see if they can trace the letters and if they notice that they are revered!
Aluminium Foil ~ Make impressions and rubbing patterns with foil and see how this disorts the children's faces when they look at their reflection in it.
CD/DVDs ~ Light refelctive mobiles are lovely to string up and make great bird scarers in the garden !
Moon ~
Water

4. Making Light shine through

Have an activity that looks at setting opacity and it's uses.

Use ordinary plastic document sleeves as a translucent base.
To make them more rigid cut a heavy card frame and create 'windows' for the children to build onto.

Windows - Normal
Blackout
Bathroom frosted appearance.

Why would these opacities need to be achieved.
Normal vision and clear glass
Blackout - total privacy
Frosted .. allowing light but retaining privacy.

Car/van windows

Opaque ~ Light will not travel through.
Translucent ~ Only a slight glow will be seen.
Transparent ~ Light travel straight through.