Play ShadowTots
Stretch chapter opener illustration

Stretch

DISTANCE CHANGES SHADOW SIZE

Stretch Makes Shadows Grow

In the cozy Shadow Nook lives Stretch, a friendly stretchy shadow-friend who can be teeny or GIANT. Stretch has a fun secret about shadows and light.

Watch! When you hold a toy close to the light, its shadow grows BIG — tall as a giant! Whoa, Stretch!

Now move the toy far from the light. The shadow shrinks — teeny and small. Hello, little shadow!

Can YOU try it? Hold a toy near a lamp, then far away. Watch the shadow stretch big… then shrink small. Amazing!

Say it with a grown-up: “Close to the light makes big and tall — far away makes shadows small.”

Close is big, far is small. That’s Stretch’s shadow secret! Move your toy, and watch the shadow grow and shrink. Let’s play again!

Reading together with a grown-up? A card for the grown-up

For the grown-up: ask one question, then wait. When they answer, add one word to what they said. Tap the button when they have said something — that is one turn each, a circle. Nothing is recorded or kept.

Let them finish it

Say “Close to the light makes big and tall — …” and stop. Let them finish it.

Then say the whole line together: “Close to the light makes big and tall — far away makes shadows small.”.

Now wait. Count slowly to five in your head. Their answer is worth the quiet.

Circles together: 0

The ShadowTots ensemble

Stretch is one of the friends in ShadowTots. Each friend shows you one idea by how they act; meet them all and you have the whole subject.