Building with the Light Table

Light tables are always a favourite in kindergarten classes and I have found it to be the same at home. There are so many different materials to try on the light table and A and H both love it.

This is the one we use (and more information on why I love this one in particular is here).

Be creative with this toy! Anything translucent will work and add excitement to play.

Get started:

1) Pick a translucent toy. Our favourite by far is magnetic blocks. Some other ones I like are acrylic blocks and simple bingo chips.

2) Turn the light table on and the overhead lights off and start building!

Expand:

• Layer different blocks on top of one another and challenge your child to guess what colour they will see.

• See how many blocks you can stack flat on top of one another before you can't see the light come through

• cover the whole surface of the light table in magnetic blocks. Add another toy (e.g., magnetic people) on top for imaginative play

• build with only 1 colour of blocks. Compare it to building with many colours.

What they're learning:

• problem solving

• creativity

• geometry (shapes)

• how light works

• fine motor skills

What you can say:

• "what happens when we put the block on the light table? What happens when we take them off? Why do you think that is?"

• "How many blocks do you think we could stack before we see no light when we put our eye to it? Lets count!"