Magnifying Glasses and Light Discoveries

It never ceases to amaze me when something so simple turns into a process of discovery and expansion. It all started with a lady bug, that I casually placed on the table. No words, no instructions, just an opportunity to stand back and observe. The children instantly jumped at the opportunity for a closer look. Initially they poked and prodded at the little guy. They all took turns holding it up close to their faces, counting the dots, feeling it tickle their skin, and just watch. After a while the lady bug stopped, folded up it's legs and just lay there. The curiosity increased, magnifying glasses were retrieved and exploration continued.

Then the magnifying glasses moved about the room. What else could they get a closer look at? Pencil shavings... interesting!

Pencil Tops... hmm.

This then lead to looking at each other through the eyes of the magnifying glasses. The children were amazed when they discovered that at a certain point what ever one looked at, it presented itself upside down (this is something I would love to go back to at a later date... that interested me too!)

The children discovered that when the magnifying glasses were held up in the sunlight, little flashes of lights danced around on the wall. One child even remembered back to the day I read Teacher Tom's post about the day the children discovered how mighty the sun was... the connection was made... also something i'd like to go back to on a later date.

Along side of the magnifying glasses are coloured plastic pieces. Some children grabbed hold of the plastic and held them to the window as well (have I ever expressed how much I LOVE our windows... they promote so many unique discoveries). One child squealed with delight when the colour was spotted in the carpet.

This then lead to holding up a variety of shapes in the window to see the shadow it makes

This is what made the neat shadow in the above photo. Our newest acquisition... a large cardboard tube (watch for an exciting post about this tube). 

Another view of the tube.

Then came our mirrored paper.

It's one thing when something is intentionally placed to make the designs on our walls (we have lots of prisms, CD, shapes, and stained 'glass' on our windows to take advantage of the afternoon sun), but it's so much more fun when we can make the light and shadows dance ourselves!

Looking back over this post is appears that a lot happened all very quickly, but rest assured that this took place of quite a good length of time, and the children were given the time to make their hypothesis', observations and discoveries. 

I love these windows and the natural learning that takes place around these windows!!!!