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ShadowTots light-and-shadow world — a grown-up and child making hand-shadow puppets of a bear and a bird on a lamp-lit screen in a cozy warm room with a globe, a telescope and shelves

🌓 Ages 3–5 · Light & shadow

ShadowTots

Any lamp or sunny window becomes a shadow theatre. Make a shadow bigger, find what the light can (and can’t) go through, and watch the shadow swing when you move the light. Four shadow friends show you real science you can do on the wall.

🔒 No camera, no account, no data — just you, a light, and a wall.

🖐️ Make shadows

Start here

Make shadows Four shadow friends give you things to try on the wall — then a quick “why did that happen?”. For grown-ups How to set up a shadow theatre with any lamp or window — and stay eye-safe.

The four shadow friends

Each friend is one thing shadows do.

  • Stretch — distance changes size — closer to the light makes a bigger shadow
  • Block — solid things stop the light, so they make a dark shadow
  • Glimmer — see-through things let some light through, so their shadow is faint
  • Flip — move the light, not the toy, and the shadow moves the other way

Grounded in child-as-scientist play (Gopnik) and NGSS 1-PS4-3 (light & shadow). ShadowTots runs on your device only.

Meet the cast — the characters who teach this

Each one stands for an idea you’ll practice. Tap a character to read their illustrated story and hear their audio drama.

Explore all the stories →