Understand What We Mean By Darkness

Did you know that frogs can see in the dark? They can even see colours in the dark when humans wouldn't see anything!

There are some animals that are nocturnal and they have special cells in their eyes that help them to see in the dark. Foxes, owls and cats are just a few!

Lots of other animals, including humans cannot see very well in the dark (even though we've eaten our carrots!)

Darkness is just the absence of light.

That's all it is!

And because there is no light, if we don't have special nocturnal eyes, we can't see, so we need to use torches, street lights, car lights and reflective materials to help us stay safe when the Sun sets.

If there is no light, there will be no light energy moving around, to 'bounce' or reflect off different objects, so we can't see them!

Light sources are objects that make their own light.

At night we can sometimes see the moon and the stars. The moon does not make its own light -  it is just reflecting the Sun - isn't that cool?

Reflective materials are usually shiny, smooth and flat, but the moon reflects the Sun because it is so large and it is a light colour which helps.

Stars are light sources because they make their own light. Did you know that our Sun is actually a star?

The stars don't give us humans enough light to see at night because they are too far away.

Can you think of any other objects that give us light?

Torches, lamps, lightbulbs and fires are all sources of light - they create light energy which helps us to see.

In this activity, we will be thinking about how lights can help us and what darkness is - can you remember?