After School STEM Challenge – Shadow Towers

This post is in partnership with Energizer.

Learning after school is not something most school age kids want to do. What they don’t know is whether they are at soccer practice, climbing a tree, baking muffins, or recounting their day to their parents they are always learning. Still, as parents, we want to engage their minds more intentionally from time to time, that is where after school challenges come in. When Energizer® asked me to come up with an idea to shine a light on learning and how kids can power up to have their best school year, I thought let’s do a challenge! This challenge is short intentionally; it’s meant to spark learning and curiosity not teach a long drawn out lesson, which is why it’s perfect for after school.

Gather your materials. You will need some blocks, painter’s or washi tape ( check to make sure they won’t peel off paint or your floor finish), The Energizer® Emergency All-in-One Light, and our challenge sign. 

Print out the challenge sign here – the reason I use signs is that no kid wants to be nagged to learn. Giving children the independence to decide when they will do the challenge makes it much more fun and feels a lot less like learning. Remember your kids are tired after school, let them decide when to do this. The great thing is that this activity works great in the evening when the light is lower too since it uses the Energizer® Emergency All-in-One Light.

Next pop the tape on the wall and the floor.

Add the blocks and pop the sign up on the wall. And wait…

It might take some time to figure out that it’s not the actual blocks getting that high and the challenge is to get the shadow touch the tape, but the excitement in your child’s response when they figure it out is exactly what we are going for. That spark is what powers up creativity and learning after school.

What happens when you move the flash light closer to the blocks? What about further away?

Once your child has figured it out the activity – pass them the tape and let them try out the tape at different heights and places on the floor. We had fun with multiple towers.

Energizer® Emergency All-in-One Light shines the light on multiple directions and isn’t just great for learning it’s also awesome for walking in the dark to places like say the school bus at 7:20 am. Also awesome for family use is that it’s droppable and comes with two Energizer MAX^® AA batteries, so it’s ready to use right away.