The Light Detectives: Transparent, Translucent, or Opaque?

This week, we explored transparent, translucent, and opaque materials by becoming Light Detectives!

Our first mission was to go on a hunt around the school. We quickly found the reception doors. “Can you see us?” some of us asked.
Yes, you can!
We noticed that the glass was completely clear. One child explained, “The glass is transparent because you can see through it and it is clear,” showing a brilliant understanding of what transparent means.

Next, we played “Knock, knock — who’s at the door?”
We could hear someone on the other side, but we couldn’t see them at all. That told us something important about this material.
“The wood door is opaque as it doesn’t let the light through,” another child concluded confidently.

Finally, we all went back to class and tested out another material. Can you guess what the mystery object was? The children were excited to experiment once again—holding it up to the light, peeking through it, and comparing it to what they had already learnt. They discovered that you can see light through it, but not clearly. This helped them understand that the object was translucent.
The children had lots of fun testing, investigating, and deepening their understanding of what translucent means.

Turns out sunglasses don’t just make us look cool — they make us science-smart too!