Flashlight Shadow Center

Create shadows with flashlights.

Print Activity

Materials

choose a room with lights that can be switched off (or the shades drawn)
multiple flashlights
various objects to make shadows (fork, block, toy car, book, small box, toy plane, etc.)

Directions

Lay out many flashlights and objects for children to create shadows with. Let children freely explore without speciﬁc direction. If children need ideas, encourage them to experiment with flashlights by:

moving the object making the shadow closer or farther from the flashlight
rotating, turning, or flipping the object making the shadow
moving the flashlight around a stationary object
shining multiple flashlights at a single object

Back to Curriculum

Learning Centers
Indoor

Flashlight Safety

Tell children never to point a flashlight at their own or another child’s face. A flashlight can be very bright and can hurt their eyes. Show children how to turn a flashlight on and off and ask them to always turn their flashlight off when they have finished using it.

Accommodations

Younger children may have difficulty turning on a flashlight. Demonstrate how to turn it on.

© 2025 WGBH Educational Foundation. All rights reserved. Peep and the Big Wide World and the Peep characters and related indicia are trademarks of WGBH Educational Foundation. All third party trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Used with permission. “Peep,” “Quack,” “Chirp,” “Tom” and “Nellie” were originally created by Kai Pindal for the National Film Board of Canada productions The Peep Show, © National Film Board of Canada, 1962, and Peep and the Big Wide World, © National Film Board of Canada, 1988. Peep and the Big Wide World ® is produced by WGBH and 9 Story Entertainment in association with TVOntario. Major funding for Peep and the Big Wide World is provided by the National Science Foundation. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1222607. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.