Today we will be learning about prisms, light, and color. We will be doing some hands-on activities to see what light is made of, and what it does. We will also learn why we see colors.
Light is electromagnetic energy. It has different wavelengths that fall on the electromagnetic spectrum. Light is made up of all the colors, as you can see when looking through a prism:
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Light illumines the world around us so that we can see it. Light can be reflected, transmitted, or absorbed:
- reflected: light bounces back
- transmitted: light passes through material
- absorbed: light sinks into an object
We conducted an experiment with several different materials and a flashlight, to see if the light was reflected, transmitted, or absorbed by the material. We used a mirror, Cling Wrap, wax paper, aluminum foil, a bench, and my jeans.
Experiments with Prisms, Light, & Color (video)
Take a look at how the prism separates white light into all the colors of the spectrum. Then watch as we conduct an experiment to see which materials reflect, transmit, and absorb light:
Playing with Colors
We printed a coloring page from Christian Kids Explore Physics by Bright Ideas Press, and my daughter enjoyed playing with colors as she painted the scene. She found out that when something is blue, that object reflects blue but absorbs all the other colors.
We had a wonderful time playing with prisms, light, and color!
Tags: Christian Kids Explore Physics, color, experiment, hands-on science, Homeschooling, light, physics, science
Oh I totally need to try this out with my kids.
It’s super fun!
This looks like such a fun afternoon activity which right now all us parents need!
It’s always fun to split the light into different colors!
I’m going to have my kids watch this today. We learned a similar lesson from our Apologia book last fall, so I want to review and add too that lesson with this lesson. I love that you share the lessons you are teaching. It is beyond helpful to us mama’s that have a handful with babies!
So glad you are enjoying our lessons!
I love these fun ideas for teaching about light!
Light is truly a fascinating subject…
My kids LOVE learning about color and prisms and rainbows! How fun!
This is a colorful experiment–that’s for sure!
I definitely need to try this with my daughter, we were outside a bit yesterday while it was not raining and some parts of the yard were dried up but she saw some rainbows by how the light reflected off certain objects. Great lesson plan, thanks for the tip.
Yes, you can also spray water with a hose and see the rainbow with the sunshine shining through it.
This is a fun experiment. We’ve been slacking in the experiment department lately. Will definitely try this one out.
Science experiments are a great way to bring science topics to life for children.