Before beginning any work involving sunlight you need to make sure that the class understands the risks of looking directly at the Sun when completing any activities. You can demonstrate how to view an eclipse of the Sun by using a cardboard box to make a pinhole camera by making a needle hole in one side of the box through a rectangle of tin foil and gluing a white screen on the inside opposite the hole. The image of the Sun will then appear on the screen as the sunlight shines through the pinhole.

Sun Shadows
The class can spend time exploring how sunlight can produce shadows on Earth. Remind the class that shadows are created when light from a source is blocked by an opaque material. Get the children to explore how they can change the size of a shadow by moving an opaque material closer or further away from the light source. The class can use torches and small balls to investigate how to change shadows. Working on the playground, the children can explore how to change the size and shape of their own shadows by standing in different positions during different times of the day. Establish with the class how their own shadows can change during the day according to the position of the Sun in the sky which means the light source is closer or further away from the Earth.

Sun and Moon
The children can produce some models to explore how an eclipse is created in Earth when light from the Sun is blocked by the position of the Moon in the sky. The class can use papier mache to make models of the Moon and Earth stuck on top of some garden canes. The children can then use a torch to represent sunlight and explore how to position the Moon in front of the light source so that it creates a shadow on the model of the Earth. Get then to investigate how to change the size of the shadow on the Earth model by moving the positions of the light source and the Moon model.

World Without Light
Discuss with the class some of the benefits of sunlight in the world such as providing warmth and growing plants. Get the children to make a list of ways that sunlight can be used on Earth and suggest problems that might occur if there was no sunlight. They can make a list of alternative ways of overcoming the problems if there was no light. For example, if there is no light to make crops grow then farmers will need to devise ways of using artificial light to help plants grow.

Shadow Art
Working in art and design, the class can explore the impact of sunlight on Earth. Get the children to create a design by cutting and gluing some shapes from black paper on top of a piece of coloured paper. They can then leave the completed designs out on the playground during a dry day for a number of hours so that the sunlight only bleaches certain parts of the paper making their selected designs visible on the paper.