Art / Homeschooling / Maths

Light, Blocks, and Shadows: An Art Exploration

Light, Blocks, and Shadows: An Art Exploration | Happiness is here

I recently came across this beautiful artwork by Kumi Yamashita that amazed me. Isn’t it brilliant? Simple kids building blocks and light creating stunning artwork. I knew it would inspire the girls and had to show them. I was right! But we couldn’t try right away. We had to wait until a time when the sun was low in the sky so we could create beautiful shadows. Early this morning we went out to check.

Light, Blocks, and Shadows: An Art Exploration | Happiness is herePerfect! It was time to experiment.

Light, Blocks, and Shadows: An Art Exploration | Happiness is hereWe started with some of the plain blocks that we had. Some coloured ones of different shapes and some jenga blocks.

Light, Blocks, and Shadows: An Art Exploration | Happiness is hereFirst, they placed different shaped blocks on the ground and noticed the different shadows they created.

Light, Blocks, and Shadows: An Art Exploration | Happiness is hereMiss 5: ‘Look Mum, if I turn it this way it’s thin and if I turn it the other way the shadow is bigger’

Light, Blocks, and Shadows: An Art Exploration | Happiness is hereThey then started to make pictures with the shadows. Miss 3 is making stairs here.

Light, Blocks, and Shadows: An Art Exploration | Happiness is hereWorking out that putting blocks behind others means that you can’t see their shadows.

Light, Blocks, and Shadows: An Art Exploration | Happiness is hereThey eventually started building up to make taller shadows of different shapes.

Light, Blocks, and Shadows: An Art Exploration | Happiness is hereThey began to tell stories about what they were creating. This is Rapunzel’s tower.

After they had played with the plain blocks for a while I bought out our new rainbow blocks to add another dimension to their creations. These beautiful blocks were sent to us by the lovely Krystal from Sweet Elephants. I love them and have been admiring them for a long time. I knew that my girls would love them too and that they would inspire new block play.

Light, Blocks, and Shadows: An Art Exploration | Happiness is hereThey placed the blocks down and immediately noticed the magnificent coloured shadows they made. They were excited.

Light, Blocks, and Shadows: An Art Exploration | Happiness is hereMiss 5 began creating scenes with the shadows straight away.

Light, Blocks, and Shadows: An Art Exploration | Happiness is hereMiss 3 experimented with how to get the light to shine through the blocks, making the coloured shadows. I watched her turning the blocks around to face different directions and noticing the change in the shadow that was produced.

Light, Blocks, and Shadows: An Art Exploration | Happiness is hereBalancing. Using lots of different shapes.

Light, Blocks, and Shadows: An Art Exploration | Happiness is hereEventually they decided to work together so they could both use all of the rainbow blocks.

Light, Blocks, and Shadows: An Art Exploration | Happiness is hereAs I had hoped, they discovered you could mix the colours.  ‘Mum, we made orange with a pink and a yellow!’

Light, Blocks, and Shadows: An Art Exploration | Happiness is hereIsn’t this beautiful? They continued playing for the longest time. So engaged. So much learning. So much creativity.

Can you tell I really loved this exploration? I think blocks outside in the morning is going to become quite a regular occurrence for us now. We are inspired! I think it would be interesting for them to combine the plain blocks with the rainbow blocks but because the rainbow blocks were so new, they didn’t do that today. They were totally taken with them once I brought them out, and the others were forgotten. This often happens with a new material and it’s why I don’t offer just one off experiences. We will revisit this again and again and each time something new will be created, more learning will happen. In the future I might extend the exploration by also laying down some paper with pencils for them to trace around their shadows and colour them in later, creating some art we can keep.

Comments

September 15, 2014 at 7:12 pm

What a fun activity! I love that you used shadows in play. How fun!



Jess - Memoirs of a Childhood
September 15, 2014 at 7:57 pm

This is such a cool idea, so inviting! Makes me want rainbow blocks even more… Christmas is soon…



September 15, 2014 at 8:05 pm

Gorgeous! We have a set of those blocks as well and they really are beautiful to build with when you have light streaming through them. That block shadow silhouette was amazing! I can see why it would have inspired you all. Thanks for sharing!



September 15, 2014 at 8:30 pm

I love rainbow blocks! Every time I see them I am so inspired by their potential. Your children look so engaged and I love the natural learning process you took with them rather than just giving them the blocks straight up. Definitely on the xmas wish list!
Thanks for posting!



September 15, 2014 at 8:55 pm

How adorable. I love reading how learning developed through play. Gorgeous post. Loved reading it.



September 15, 2014 at 9:12 pm

What a glorious activity and a wonderful way to enjoy the morning sunshine.



Amber Greene
September 15, 2014 at 9:12 pm

I so need some of these for our Rainbow Bridge family day educators. Oh, and my own boys too! Gorgeous pics.



September 15, 2014 at 9:20 pm

We just love our window blocks too, they’re so much fun 🙂 I love seeing all the ways that you’ve explored light and shadow.



September 16, 2014 at 9:43 am

What gorgeous rainbow blocks, I have had them on my wishlist for the longest time – maybe for Christmas!?? I love the story of your discoveries and experiments, I know my two girls would love this too.



September 16, 2014 at 9:48 am

We’ve been playing with shadows too lately… when we have some sunshine!
What gorgeous photos and so much learning and exploration!!



September 16, 2014 at 1:43 pm

What gorgeous blocks and lovely ways to play with them. I have long admired them as well, they keep showing up on blogs I read so will have to check them out 🙂



September 16, 2014 at 4:48 pm

My kids love their window blocks too! And I’m rather partial to them as well 🙂 I see why you were all inspired by the artwork you linked – beautiful stuff!



Emma
September 17, 2014 at 3:30 am

I love the playful way your let them explore shadows. I’ve admired those rainbow blocks for a while – they are absolutely lovely with the sunlight shining through them!



Krystal
September 17, 2014 at 7:13 am

I just love how you have inspired creativity by using art with our gorgeous blocks. Your girls seem so captivated in the activity.

Your blog entries are always so beautifully written and I look forward to them. Thank you for a lovely read.



September 17, 2014 at 6:14 pm

This is beautiful meaningful work for them, I love it! I am commenting on this post, as it’s your most recent, but I have been going through the archives and just loved what I read. You echo my thoughts on so many things (socialization, writing, reading, the child led approach). I knew we would homeschool for years before compulsory age so I diligently researched and set up activities and printed things… And now I do a child led approach and it is so wonderful. My 5.5 year old is taking a track to writing that sounds like your daughter, even when I’m cooking she’s calling in to have me spell something. And I’ve learned not to be surprised that the two year old wants to learn at a different pace and different things than the older one did. I am also so happy I came to homeschooling, what a gift for our children… And us!



September 17, 2014 at 9:22 pm

Your pictures are stunning, so inspiring. Looks like SO MUCH FUN!
It,s in my plans this year to build a light table for exploration and I want to invest in light table color blocks. Not as pretty as these, but I think they will be great fun for my little man. (and his big sister will surely jump in with him from time to time.)



September 18, 2014 at 8:34 am

The rainbow blocks look awesome and so much fun to play with!



September 18, 2014 at 11:57 am

LOVE this post and I LOVE those blocks!



September 22, 2014 at 11:16 am

These blocks look awesome!

Thank you for stopping by the Thoughtful Spot Weekly Blog Hop this week. We hope to see you drop by our neck of the woods next week!



November 23, 2014 at 7:06 pm

i love this post! so beautiful activity!



January 18, 2024 at 2:20 pm

Thanks for the blog loaded with so much information. It’s really informative.
lightweight Blocks



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