Spark & Anvil Privacy
ShadowTots light-and-shadow world — a grown-up and child making hand-shadow puppets of a bear and a bird on a lamp-lit screen in a cozy warm room with a globe, a telescope and shelves

🌓 Ages 3–5 · Light & shadow

ShadowTots

Any lamp becomes a shadow theatre. Make a shadow bigger, and watch it swing when you move the light.

🖐️ Make shadows

🔒 No camera, no account, no data — just you, a light, and a wall.

Start here

Make shadows Four shadow friends give you things to try on the wall — then a quick “why did that happen?”. For grown-ups How to set up a shadow theatre with any lamp or window — and stay eye-safe.

The four shadow friends

Each friend is one thing shadows do.

  • Stretch — distance changes size — closer to the light makes a bigger shadow
  • Block — solid things stop the light, so they make a dark shadow
  • Glimmer — see-through things let some light through, so their shadow is faint
  • Flip — move the light, not the toy, and the shadow moves the other way

Grounded in child-as-scientist play (Gopnik) and NGSS 1-PS4-3 (light & shadow). ShadowTots runs on your device only.

ShadowTots mascot

Meet the cast — the characters who teach this

Each one stands for an idea you’ll practice. Tap a character to read their illustrated story.

Explore all the stories →

What next? Pick a door

Chosen from what this app is about. What you open is remembered on this device only.