60 min
Mud Kitchen
Old pans, a bucket of soil, some water, and no rules at all.
🌞
Shadow Drawing
Stand a toy in the sun and draw around its shadow.
A quiet outdoor activity that turns into a science conversation without anyone noticing.
What you need
- paper
- pencils or chalk
- small toys or figures
How to do it
- Find a sunny patch of ground or a table in direct sun.
- Stand a small toy at the edge of a sheet of paper so its shadow falls across it.
- Draw carefully around the shadow.
- Move the toy, or wait twenty minutes, and draw the new shadow in a different colour.
- Compare the two and talk about why they changed.
Why this is good for them
Tracing a shadow is precise, slow work that suits children who find free drawing intimidating, because there is a line to follow. Returning later to see the shadow has moved is a first, concrete encounter with the earth turning.
Adapting by age
3 to 4 yearsUse chalk on paving and trace their own shadow instead.
7 to 10 yearsMark the time next to each outline and build a shadow clock through the day.
Keep it safe
Hats and shade breaks if the sun is strong.
Cleanup tip
Chalk washes off with a watering can, which is its own activity.
More like this
25 min
Draw What You Can See
One window, one pencil, twenty minutes of genuine quiet.
30 min
Paint the Snow
Coloured water in a spray bottle and a garden full of blank canvas.
35 min
Frozen Treasure Excavation
Freeze small toys in a tub of water and let them dig them out.
30 min
Paper Aeroplane Testing Lab
Three designs, one tape measure, and an argument about which flies furthest.
60 min
One Box, Anything
A big box, some tape, and no instructions whatsoever.