Light & Color
Information About This Unit
Description of Learning Unit:
In this unit, children will be introduced to the colors found in a single ray of light. The unit will also answer questions like why the sky is blue. Children will also begin to explore rainbows and how they are formed. This unit contains lessons, learning activities, experiments and videos. It is designed to last for one week, depending on how often you teach science. 
List of Objectives:
- Learn about light.
- Discuss the colors found in a ray of light.
- Learn why the sky is blue.
- Learn how rainbows are formed.
List of Materials and Supplies Needed for This Pathway:
- Two-liter soda pop bottle
- Milk
- Water
- Red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple crepe paper streamers
- Paper plate
- Scissors
- Stapler
- One cup of milk
- Three drops red food coloring
- Three drops blue food coloring
- Three drops yellow food coloring
- Dish soap
- Shallow bowl
- Tape
- Water
- Mirror
- Scissors
- White card
- Dark room
- Clear plastic box
- Flashlight
- Black construction paper
Links to Free Learning Material
Links to Online Lessons:
| What is light? | (no rating) |
Teach your child how light and color work together. This site explains what light is and how light is made up of photons, which travel through waves. All colors come from these different wavelengths of light.
| White Light | 81% | (1 votes) |
What is white light? This site discusses how the sun produces white light, which is a mixture of all the colors within the color spectrum and explains how we interpret different colors using white light.
| Optical Illusions | 90% | (1 votes) |
This site explore optical illusions and will help teach children about the different ways that we see and interpret light.
| Why is the Sky Blue? | 88% | (1 votes) |
What makes the sky appear blue? What makes a red sunset? In this lesson, children will learn why the sky appears to be blue most of the time and red at other times.
| Rainbows | 70% | (1 votes) |
Ever wondered about rainbows and why you rarely see them? The reason that rainbows are rare is because you need rain in front of you and sun behind you in order to see them. Check out this site to learn more about how rainbows are formed.
Reference Websites:
| Links to Light and Color Resources | 81% | (1 votes) |
Want to learn more about light and color? You can visit this site for additional links to sites related to light and color.
Hands-On Projects and Activities:
| Blue Sky Activity | (no rating) |
This experiment helps explain the concept of why the sky is blue by allowing children to visualize color using light.
| Rainbow Streamers | (no rating) |
With this activity, children will learn how to make their own colorful rainbow streamer!
| Curious Colors Experiment | 80% | (1 votes) |
This experiment will teach children how to create a rainbow in a dark room so they can understand how light travels and bends to create various colors.
| Catch a Rainbow | 83% | (1 votes) |
In this fun activity, children will create their own rainbow. By conducting this experiment, children will learn how the three primary colors (red, yellow, blue) combine to form new colors.
Learning tools (worksheets, drills, printables, online games, tests, etc.):
| Exploring Light | (no rating) |
This site teaches children that there is more to light than meets the eye. Click on the next button at the top of the page to continue the presentation.
| Rainbow Puzzle | (no rating) |
This site allows your child to put together a colorful rainbow puzzle online!
| Light Matching Game | (no rating) |
Match the face in the infrared image with the same face in visible light. This site also includes a brief description of infrared and visible light.
| Rainbow Photos | (no rating) |
Supernumerary rainbows consist of more than one rainbow, at least when seen through our eyes, but through an unexplainable fluke in nature, they are basically carbon copies of one rainbow. This page contains photo examples of supernumerary rainbows.
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Free Online Video:
| Rainbow Video | (no rating) |
This video explains how a rainbow works, including what it is and what it's made of.
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Free Online Audio: 
Free E-Books (and classics available in most libraries):