Year 6 - Light

Empower your class to explore how light travels in straight lines and is reflected, fostering a deep understanding through hands-on activities like building periscopes and investigating shadows. Get ready for exciting outdoor learning experiences that will illuminate the world of light for your Year 6 pupils!

Lesson Plans

Exploring how light travels

Explore the fascinating world of light with this engaging Year 6 science lesson, designed to demonstrate that light travels in straight lines through exciting outdoor investigations and creative problem-solving. Children will use torches, mirrors, and various obstacles to guide light beams, discovering how we see objects and the principles of reflection in a fun, hands-on environment.

Learning objective:

To demonstrate that light travels in straight lines.

Investigating reflection

Uncover the secrets of light reflection in this hands-on Year 6 science lesson! Through building and experimenting with periscopes, children will discover how light bounces to help us see objects, even around corners.

Learning objective:

To investigate how
light can be reflected.

Explaining the shape of shadows

Investigate the intriguing world of shadows in this engaging Year 6 science lesson! Children will explore how shadows are formed and why they mirror the shape of objects, through hands-on body experiments and artistic shadow drawing.

Learning objective:

To explain why shadows have the same shape as the objects that cast them.

Consolidating how light travels

The main activity of this outdoor lesson has your children using natural loose parts and chalk to visualise and label how light travels in straight lines to our eyes, cementing their scientific understanding through an immersive, hands-on presentation.

Learning objective:

To understand how light travels.

Before you get started

Safety and suistanability is super important!