Why Is My Shadow Long in the Morning? An Easy Explanation for Kids

“Why is my shadow so long?” Children notice their shadow stretching out on the way to school and shrinking at lunchtime. It’s a perfect question for K to Grade 2: simple to see, and the explanation is within reach.

The short answer

Shadows are long when the Sun is low in the sky and short when the Sun is high. In the morning and late afternoon, the Sun is low, so shadows stretch. Around midday it’s high, so shadows are short.

Why does the Sun’s height change?

Earth turns once a day. As it turns, the Sun appears to rise, climb, then sink. It’s not the Sun that is moving across the sky. It’s us turning. Young children usually say “the Sun moves,” and that’s a fine starting point. You can say, “It looks like it moves, and what’s really happening is Earth is spinning.”

Try it: the flashlight sun

You need a flashlight, a small toy and a wall or sheet of paper.

Stand the toy on a table in a dim room.
Hold the flashlight high above the toy and shine it down. Look at the shadow: short and fat.
Move the flashlight low, near the table. The shadow stretches long.

Ask: “Which one is like morning? Which one is like noon?”

Try it outside: trace and measure

Mark a spot on the pavement with chalk, stand a bottle on it, and trace its shadow at three times of the day: morning, noon and afternoon. Use different colours. Cut yarn to the length of each shadow and compare.

Children also notice that the shadows point in different directions. The Sun’s position changes, so the shadow swings.

Fair test for older children

Ask: “Does the time of day change the length of a shadow?” Keep the bottle and the spot the same. Measure each shadow in centimetres. Repeat on another day to see if the pattern holds.

For parents south of the equator or in the tropics

Shadows behave the same way everywhere. Near the equator the midday Sun can be almost overhead, so shadows nearly disappear. Away from the tropics, a midday shadow points north in the Northern Hemisphere and south in the Southern Hemisphere.

Common mix-ups

“The shadow is part of me.” It’s the place light can’t reach.
“A shadow only happens in the sun.” Any light source makes one. Try a lamp.
“A longer shadow means a bigger object.” Same object, different light angle.

Next steps

The full activity is in our lesson Why is my shadow long in the morning?, and the unit opens with Why does my shadow follow me? and ends with What can light go through? Browse the whole Light and Shadows unit, and sign up for three lessons free.