Page 33 - FOUNDATIONS FOR LIFE; EXPLORING GOD’S UNIVERSE

COLOURED LIGHT

Truth to Teach (Source)

Genesis 9:13 ‘I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the
covenant between me and the earth.’

 Light can be split into the colours of the rainbow by a prism.

 We see colour because an object reflects that colour in the light falling on it.

Way to Work (Means)

Equipment: Bubble Mix or washing–up liquid and wire, prisms, torches, picture of a rainbow.

1. Review the previous lessons by question and answer, possibly a quiz.

2. Blow some bubbles using washing up liquid and a wire or use a commercial Bubble Mix.
Ask the children why the bubbles are coloured. Light from the sun or from a light
source appears white but it is actually coloured. We only see these colours when light
passes through a transparent substance like glass or water. These substances
separate the light into the colours of the rainbow – red, orange, yellow, green, blue,
indigo, violet. (There are two other kinds of light, infra-red and ultra-violet; some
children may like to use the Internet or books to find out more about them.)

Give the children time to use prisms to observe the coloured light.

3. Show a picture of a rainbow and remind the children of the sign of the covenant in the
story of Noah in Genesis 9. Set the children the challenge of finding out from books or
the Internet how rainbows are formed if they do not already know. (The raindrops act
as prisms to separate the white light into seven colours.)

4. Show the children how to make colour wheels with circles of card divided into seven

sections. Push a pointed pencil or equivalent through the middle to spin it. The colours
should blend together to appear white or grey. Spinners with fewer colours could be
tried to see the results.

5. The children should write up notes with labelled diagrams to reinforce their learning.

6. End by gathering to review the main points of the lesson. Enforce the fact that we see
colour because an object reflects that colour in the light falling on it.

Learning for Life (Fulfilment)
The children will have learnt more of the wonder of light and will know how rainbows are formed.
They will appreciate how prisms work and why we see colours in objects which reflect the light
falling on them.

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