Shadow Sculptures
Here’s a game that’s sure to make Punxsutawney Phil scoot back into his hole faster than you can say, “Six more weeks of winter!” You’ll need a sunny day, but this activity works just as well on a clear snowy field as it does on a flat dry driveway. Just use a stick instead of chalk to trace the outline.
- Sidewalk chalk or regular chalk (more than one color is nice, but not necessary)
1. Find a nice open, sunny area, where shadows are easily cast, and you are able to draw on the ground. You’ll want a smooth flat surface, like a driveway or sidewalk.
2. Gather your teams of players (4 or 5 to a team works best).
3. Designate one person as the "sculptor" and one or more people as the"tracers". All of the other players will be the "building blocks".
4. Give the tracer(s) a piece of chalk.
1. The sculptor chooses one of the building blocks and places them in a pose (make sure they do this gently and that it is a pose that the person can hold comfortably for a few minutes).
2. Using the shadow cast by the building blocks to form the actual sculpture, the sculptor begins connecting additional building blocks to the first building block, creating a unique shadow. The more building blocks the sculptor has, the longer, fuller, taller, and more interesting the shadow sculpture. Building blocks should not move once they have been placed in position.
3. Once the sculptor declares his masterpiece finished, the tracers set to work, tracing the outline of the shadow.
4. Once the shadow has been traced the building blocks may move from position.
5. At this point extra chalk in varying colors can be handed out, and everyone can embellish the sculpture/monster.
1. Make a gallery of sculptures: name them, create stories about them, hold an awards ceremony and give each one an award (funniest, scariest, most elegant, most delicate, etc.)
2. This can be done in the snow or the sand. Use a stick to draw the outline, then use snow or wet sand to build up areas of the sculpture. Use pebbles, twigs, shells, rocks, etc. to embellish your snow or sand creation.
3. If it happens to be a beautiful day, you can make this into a game. Make a bunch of water balloons. Draw a chalk circle, about 10 feet in diameter, around your creation. Have everyone stand outside the circle, and one by one, tossing their water balloons, try and erase the creation.
1. Make sure the sculptor treats his/her building blocks with gentle respect -- no shoving or pushing is necessary.
2. Think outside the box! Play with the different ways that body parts cast shadows: outstretched fingers can become hair, a bent-over person can become a chair, a hip can be a giant skirt.
3. When tracing the shadow, try and stay out of the direction of the shadow so that you don’t obscure the shadow you are tracing. This can be a bit tricky. Adult may have to help navigate where the tracers should place themselves in order to trace accurately.
4. Have fun with the embellishing!
5. Take photos of your creations, and use them later for writing/story-telling fodder.