Making a pinhole camera

Making a pinhole camera is one of those things that feels like kind of an obligatory part of learning about light. I feel like I did it several times when I was young. And, true, it is an interesting way to discover how images are turned upside-down when coming through a thin opening (as on the retina of your eye). But I must say it's not one of my favorite activities, just because it's so…underwhelming. The images you see inside the camera are so small and blurry and faded! But, it's an easy-enough activity to do, so maybe it's worth it anyway. Or maybe there is a model that works better than the one we made. We got our instructions from a library book, but here are some online instructions for how to make a pinhole camera from a Pringles can.

Here's another version.

Or you could make a pinhole camera that actually records pictures onto film? That sounds kind of cool.

Light and Shadows

There are lots of fun activities to teach kindergartners and preschoolers about shadows, but even though the concept seems simple, there is a surprising amount of information to learn for older kids too. For example, can "the speed of dark" actually move faster than the speed of light? That's the subject of this fascinating video…it will make you question all your assumptions for a minute or two. :) 

We had fun doing shadow puppets on the wall—we got some ideas here, but the children also loved making up their own, of course!

Our favorite thing was watching some videos of professional shadow puppeteers (?)—the shapes they can make are AMAZING! And they move between shapes so fluidly! It is really fun to watch:

Here, here, here, and here (this one is cool because you can watch the guy as he makes the shadow pictures with his hands).

This is a fun make-your-own-sundial project

We also experimented with what kinds of light make harsher and softer shadows. We used the camera flash and Sam's big reflector to compare direct and indirect light, diffused light, artificial light and sunlight, etc., and how those different lights affected the look of photographs. We tried bouncing the flash off of various surfaces to see how that changed things, too. The children always love being able to use the camera, so this was a big hit.

Abe in various kinds of light, taken by Malachi

Malachi in various kinds of light, taken by Abe

Bee photographs

We spent several hours observing bees during this unit (both in the mountains and closer to home), and taking pictures when possible. Some of the pictures were taken by me and some by the children. It is hard to hold the camera still enough! But we were happy to have these pictures because we could then come home and look at the bees more closely, and identify different species and different features on the bees.

We also printed out several of these bee identification cards to take with us on our field trips for reference.

What amazed me most was just how many bees we noticed, once we were looking for them. And how often we could see even very small details, like full pollen baskets or an extended proboscis. I guess you really can see more when you know what to look for (and when you are actually looking)! 

Bees sharing a coneflower

Bulging pollen basket (by the arrow)

I like this bumblebee's orange fur

You can see the dusting of pollen all over this bee's front legs

More very full pollen baskets!

Another strikingly-colored bumblebee

You can see the bee sipping through her proboscis here

Also here

This is an interestingly-colored wasp---the stripes are almost blue or green

And while we were out, we couldn't help but notice some other pollinators. These beautiful butterflies are hard workers too!

This shiny blue one is my favorite!