Sun Cards Activity

Doing the Activity

1. Early in the morning take some thick, dark-colored construction paper.
2. Place some small objects with distinctive shapes on top of the paper such as keys, small toys, or small household items. You can also cut out letters from another sheet of paper and place them on top of the colored construction paper.
3. Place the construction paper directly in the sun. By the end of the day the paper will be faded, except in the areas protected by the objects.
   
   

Comments/Suggestions

Be sure to use item that do not get hot to touch. The items should not be moved for several hours, so conduct the activity away for high traffic areas. You might want to draw around the objects so if a child moves one you can move it back to its place.

Modification

This can sometimes be done indoors when direct sunlight continuously shines through a large window.

Things to talk about

1. How the sun is so strong that is changes the color of the paper.
2. When a place is protected from the sunlight, the sun doesn’t change the hue of the paper.
3. Has anyone ever gotten a sunburn? That changes the color of your skin too (for light-skinned people) and it hurts.
4. What about a suntan?
5. What color is a sunburn and a suntan? (Tell children that both sunburns and tans actually hurt the skin!)
6. What is the difference between the two?
7. What can you do so you won’t burn your skin? (That’s right use sunscreen! Stay in the shade and cover-up with hats and clothes!)

What you can do to extend this activity to other areas

1. Look around the yard and see what the sun has done to the swing, the jungle gym, or paint (fading) on the outside walls, etc.
2. Apply sunscreen to part of a piece of construction paper. Put it in sunlight to see if the sunscreen protects it.

How well did the activity work and how will you do it differently next time?

Reprinted with permission from: California Early Childhood Sun Protection.