Shadows play a large part in both the Sheila Pepe exhibit in the museum and in The Black Rabbit book. So we created a shadow play area and watched the children’s response, which is varied – sometimes they are drawn there on their own, although an adult presence may be needed for them to come to the area.
When engaged, children often come right up to the wall, often touching it, when making shadows. On the first day the shadow play area was up Chris, brought over The Black Rabbit, asking to read it, though not commenting on a connection between the shadows in the book and those on the wall. When we had read the book previously, only one child understood that the Black Rabbit was a shadow. When she tried to explain this to others, they disregarded her idea, seeing the Black Rabbit as a separate entity. (What might the children think now, having seen the shadow of Black Rabbit moving across the screen at the Winter Sing?)
As you can see, the scarves, which wax and wane in popularity, came out more during shadow play and the children seem to have discovered a new dimension in play with these.
