Things to Do With Flashlights for Kids

Children love manipulating, moving and altering lights of all different shapes and colors, and since most other lights aren't portable or hand-held, flashlights become especially appealing. Give your kids a dark closet and they may very well contain themselves for hours playing games, telling ghost stories and making shadow puppets. Providing your kids with safe, creative flashlight activities will ensure that if you find your flashlight dead during the next power outage you'll at least know the battery power went to a good cause.

  1. Object Shadows

    • Making shadow puppets with their hands is just the first of many shadow activities your kids can enjoy with a flashlight. Hold up a small piece of a food with a somewhat recognizable silhouette, such as a broccoli floret or a strawberry, and have your kids guess the food. Glue paper figures to small craft sticks and point the flashlight at the ceiling or wall. Have your kids act out a story with the figures by moving them around in front of the flashlight's illuminated beam.

    Tracing Games

    • Tracing just about anything becomes more fun with a flashlight. An older kid can use the flashlight to trace letters on the wall while everyone else takes turns guessing the letter she's tracing. Tape a large piece of paper to the wall and have one person strike a funny pose between the paper and flashlight while you or another child traces the outline. If the posing person moves before the tracer completes the outline, then players switch roles and start again.

    Colorful Creations

    • Let your kids make a light show in your living room by adding color to regular flashlights. Secure stretched, colored balloons over the front of the flashlight with a rubber band. For kids old enough to be extra gentle with thin paper, try mixing and matching various hues of tissue paper over the light, and secure the paper with a loose rubber band or paint tape that's easy to remove. Cluster a few flashlights with different colors together to create a disco. Flood the wall with blue light and make cellophane puppets shaped like fish, or cast green light onto flowers and trees made from twisted pipe cleaners.

    Patterned Lights

    • Your kids will enjoy creating their own skylines and patterns on the ceiling or wall. Have your children cut out shapes or patterns on plain white paper and tape the paper over an open tissue box. Stick the flashlight though the opposite end so it projects the designs or shapes onto the ceiling. Younger kids who can't use scissors yet will enjoy creating polka dots and stars by using a single-hole-puncher. Children who've mastered scissors can create intricate snowflakes, cut around stencils or even create their own city skyline to project onto the wall.

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