Easy Shadow Drawing Project

With us all twiddling our thumbs a bit more than usual at the moment, finding things to occupy our kids during lockdown that can be both fun and educational has become so important, especially those that the whole family can get involved with. Getting our creativity flowing in times like these can be easily done with all the joys of Shadow Drawing, something that will definitely keep your little one's artistic hands busy and active.

Shadow Drawing is a fun yet easy activity that can be enjoyed both inside and outside, It involves making fantastic and playful art using nothing but shadows, paper and pens.  Any shadow from any object can be used to create unique shapes to draw around, so it's a perfect activity for you and your kids to think outside the box and see what unique designs and creations you can come up with, using whatever you have around the house.

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One easy way to get started with Shadow Drawing is to involve all your family in the fun of making silhouettes. With the help of a sibling or other family member, you can draw around a whole person's shadow and use this as a canvas to draw all sorts of silly faces and clothes onto the shape, and even create a new character. Get all the family to have a laugh holding different poses and making fun shapes for your kids to draw around. You can even try moving and dancing whilst your children have a go at seeing if they can draw your shadows at the same time and see what interesting shapes they create at the end. This is certainly something the whole family will not want to miss.

Toys are also a great way to make unusual shadows. Your kids can have a go experimenting with grabbing some of their favourite toys and drawing around the edges of the shadows they cast. Plastic animals make especially fun shapes, and with the added extra of using different colours, your little ones can really make some wonderful art that is more than worthy to be stuck on the fridge.

Lego is also a brilliant thing to use with Shadow Drawing. Your kids can have great fun building different shapes with the Lego blocks ready to draw around. Try out different colours, and layering objects, and maybe have a go and see who can make the tallest Lego shape for a bit of competitive fun.

Explore The Outdoors

As the weather is getting better with Spring being finally here, what better time than to head outdoors and explore all the interesting shadows that can be found in your gardens. Using the garden is a great way to not only let your little ones create some amazing art, but also get some much needed fresh air and sunshine at the same time. Different plants, flowers and trees can all cast some amazing natural shadows. Another way to make this activity even more fun is to try out different colours and materials to overlap the shadows from the different plant life your young explorers find, to make some even more abstract creations.

Have A Go At Chalk Drawing

Why not have a go at chalk drawing to make your shadow creations. It's simple and fun, and all you need is some coloured chalk and some ground for your little ones to draw on, a great way for them to make their art even bigger.

Get Scientific

This is also a great time to introduce some fun science into the activities. Depending on your kids' ages, shadow drawing can be used as a fun and exciting way to teach them about light and shadows. By either using natural light from the sun or artificial light indoors, different objects can be used to teach your kids about how shadows are just the result of the absence of light. For example, try using a range of opaque, translucent and transparent objects to explain how some allow the light to travel through and some deflect the light completely.

Try drawing around the shadows of a larger object in the garden, like a chair, table or tree trunk. If you do this in hourly intervals, you will see that the shadow moves throughout the day. This is a perfect way to visually explain that the Earth is rotating and introduce some fun science about the Earth's orbit. If you find a curved object you could even use this as an opportunity to use different colours and draw a rainbow in support of the NHS. Definitely don't miss out on teaching your little ones some new facts by using a shadow to combine art and science!

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If you enjoyed this article and would like to read more about projects for kids, then take a look at our ideas for Inventive Layers of the Earth Projects and 15 Window Decoration Art Projects.