Once upon a time, in a large house on a quiet street, there lived Mr and Mrs Darling and their three young children, Wendy, Michael and John. Every night, the three children would gather in the nursery. While they were getting ready for bed, Wendy would tell her little brother’s stories about a magical land called Neverland and the adventures of a boy who lived there – Peter Pan. After hours of pretending to wrestle ravenous crocodiles and fight off ferocious pirates, they would fall fast asleep.

One night, Wendy and her younger brothers were fast asleep and dreaming of Neverland. Just then, the nursery window swept open and a blur of green flew into the room, followed by a ball of light

that seemed to have a life of its own! The green blur collided with the toys, sending a great, echoing crash through the nursery. Wendy sat bolt upright in bed and scoured the nursery, trying to work out what had made the almighty crash. She could hardly believe what she saw. For there, in the dim light of the moon, was a boy dressed in a magnificent coat of green leaves, with jet black hair and tears running down his face.

“Oh dear!” said Wendy, “Are you hurt?”. The boy shook his head sadly.

“Something terrible has happened,” said the strange boy. “I’ve lost my shadow!”

Where have you seen shadows before?

Use the photographs on this slide to help spark pupil-led discussions. Pupils may have seen shadows in their bedrooms, shadows made by street lights or shadows on a sunny day.

Encourage pupils to share stories of any interesting shadows they have seen, as well as stories about how shadows can change shape and size (perhaps at different times of day or in different seasons), or any other patterns they have noticed.

Then darken the room and provide the pupils with torches for them to shine at the various opaque, transparent and translucent objects.

Challenge the pupils to make a shadow with a solid object, such as a pencil.

Q: Which two things do you need to make a shadow?

1. A light source – anything which makes light – for example, the torch, another electric light or the sun.

2. Something that blocks light – something that doesn’t let light pass through it.

Q: Using the same object, …

… can you make your shadow darker? (Move the object further away from the light source.)

… can you make your shadow bigger? (Move the object closer to the light source.)

… can you make your shadow change shape? (Change the position of the light source or object.)

Direct pupils to predict which of the materials on screen would produce the best (darkest) shadow.

Alternatively, the pupils could make their predictions using the objects on their tables; placing the objects in order from the one that will make the best (darkest) shadow for Peter, to the one that will make the worst (lightest) shadow.

The torch is a light source. This means it gives out light, which travels in straight lines.

Opaque materials do not let light pass through them. This means when you shine a light at an opaque object, a shadow will be formed on the other side of the object.

The shadow will be the same shape as the opaque object (relative to the perspective of the light source).

Objects that are made from translucent materials will produce weaker or fainter shadows. This is because they let some light pass through them but they scatter the light in different directions.

Transparent materials let light pass through them in straight lines. This means that they do not produce shadows.

Write a letter to Peter Pan that explains how he can make a new shadow.

Ask pupils to include every word from the word bank in their letter.

Ask pupils to choose three words from the word bank and give Peter a definition of what they each mean.