I LOVE using black lights. Black lights make lessons so engaging. The kids love seeing how the room transforms when we turn off the lights and turn on the black lights. The best way to get black lights is from the Halloween Superstore right after Halloween. They practically give them away. The best part about using black lights is that it takes very little prep work. All I do is put bulletin board paper over the windows and plug in the lights. It’s that simple. The goal is to make sure you have as little natural light as possible when using the black lights. While I use them for many different activities, I wanted to share two of my favorite.
The first activity is called Secret Agent Spy Math. Here is how it works. In order to do this, you will need white yarn, white index cards, and white index cards. The day prior, I set up my classroom. I string white yarn all around my room. I cover my windows with black paper. Then I set up black lights around the exterior of the room. After all of that is set up, I have a bunch of different math word problems written on the white index cards. I make sure the index cards are numbered to match the paper that the student is going to get. When the students come to school the next day, they see a sign on the door that says, “TOP SECRET! MEET ME IN THE CAFETERIA!” When they rush to the cafeteria, they are handed the special agent letter. After students get on trench coats and detective hats, they grab a clipboard and a pencil and head to the room. When they arrive in the room, the black lights are already on and the yarn is lit up to look like laser beams. Students navigate through the “laser beams” to get to the math problem they have to solve. When they think they have the answer, they come to me to check to see if they are correct.
It looks extremely dark and crowded in the attached picture. I promise you it is not. Students can see and, in all of the years I have done this, no one has gotten hurt. The kids really love this activity and it really tires them out trying to navigate around the beams!
My other favorite activity with laser beams is using it in writing. Again, I black out all of the natural lights and plug in the black lights. Once they are all on, the students are given a white sheet of paper. Using orange or yellow highlighters (their choice), they are to write a story. What is so neat about his activity is the black lights cause the highlighters to glow. So, when they are writing their stories, they see their writing shine! Last year, I taught a K-5 STEAM class and I did this activity with the kindergartners. They loved it! This is also a great activity for kids who don’t like to write. Change it up a bit (by adding the black lights) and, soon, your most reluctant writer will start writing. The picture below is a letter that a kindergartner wrote me. She loved doing black light writing. This is also a great example of what the highlighters look like when they are lit up by black lights.
Adventures in Education 