Let Your Light Shine

...let your light shine before others.... ~ Matthew 5:16

Our Bible verse this month is about having the light of God in us and letting that light shine so others can see our good works.

I wanted to help my children understand, in fun hands-on activities, how we see light and how it reacts in different ways. In my sensory table I put mirrors in the bottom, to see reflective light and magnifying glasses on the science tables to show refractive light.

In circle time we read the story “Northern Lights, A to Z” by: Mindy Dwyer.
and we looked at pictures from Natural Geographic on the Northern Lights.
I handed out flashlights to each of my children. We turned out the classroom lights and I let them shine their lights on the walls and the ceiling. We used the flashlights to spotlight items around the room. I never had a child that didn't love a flashlight.

My aid and I helped each child make a Northern Light activity. We took a large, inexpensive white paper plate. Each child cut their paper plate in half and glued a large craft stick to the cut side. This was their handle to hold the plate. We gave them white school glue and brushes to paint their paper plate. They then glued glitter confetti onto their paper plates and let it dry. When their plates were dry we shut the lights off in the classroom and used our flashlights to reflect the light off the glitter and the colors magically appeared on the walls and ceilings. They had to discover the best angle to hold the flashlights to make the colors appear.

My kids had so much fun with this activity they wanted to take their plates to other classrooms to show them how the lights appeared on the walls. We even went into the directors office.

We kept the glitter plates in their cubbies for a full week and the flashlights on the science table for continued exploration. Then they went home for the families to enjoy.

The Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) have been shining long before the dinosaurs roamed the earth and will continue shining forever. God's light has shown from the beginning of time and will continue to shine in our lives for eternity.

Hope you and your kids have fun with this activity and let God's light continue to shine through you.

Blessed week.

Lynn