Looking for a new game to play with your child for some quality bonding time together? Try Shadow Show and Tell!

A fun activity that children at Living Montessori often enjoy is matching colored pictures to their shadow, in an activity called shadow matching, aimed to develop visual discrimination and find fine details that distinguish one object from another.

Because children at home are less likely to want to participate in the exact activity that they do at school, we added some flare! Read more about how to turn this activity into an eye-catching game at home!

Benefits:

Helps develop visual discrimination, attention to detail, and builds descriptive vocabulary

Materials:

Plain sheet, Flashlight, Objects/Toys from around your house

Instructions:

1. Turn off the lights. (Play this game at night so that it is extra dark).
2. While your child sits on the opposite side of the sheet, hold up an object and shine the flashlight on it (You may need an extra hand to help you hold up the sheet or shine the light).
3. Have your child guess what it could be, giving hints if they are struggling.

Age/Difficulty Variations:

• For younger children (Ages 1-2), show them the items that you have chosen before you take them to the other side of the sheet. For infants, they may still enjoy this game but note that if they are not yet talking, you will be telling them what is behind the sheet. It is still a great way to develop your infant’s curiosity and grow vocabulary for when they begin talking!
• For older children (Elementary), find items that they are not as familiar. Have them draw the shadow and then guess what it could be. Turn these into mini-art projects that they can finish afterwards.

Let us know how this activity worked for you! Tag us in pictures on Instagram and Facebook. We hope you enjoyed our day 9 activity out of the 15 Days of Winter Break Activities series!
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