Here at Lie Back, Look Up, you will find plenty of stargazing and astronomy activities to do with your family. Many of these activities include free printables, as well as some tutorials and videos. Please let me know in the comments how your family has enjoyed these activities!

The autumnal equinox, occurring this year on September 22nd, is a great opportunity to help your kids explore why we experience seasons. The explanation behind the occurrence of seasons is one of the biggest misconceptions in astronomy. Many children believe that the Earth is closer to the sun in the summer and farther in the winter, thus the seasons. And while some children understand that seasons have to do with the tilt of the Earth, many still have trouble explaining how this results in seasons.

One of the greatest activities that I’ve done with my middle school students to help them understand this concept (as well as seasonal constellations) is “kinesthetic astronomy”. This involves using your bodies to model the objects and movements in the solar system. The original idea and complete lesson plan for this activity can be found here. You can modify this activity to focus only on the “reason for the seasons”, as explained below.

Reason for the Seasons

Begin by explaining that you will be using your bodies to model the Earth. The North Pole is at the top of your head, the South Pole at your tailbone, and the equator would be your waist. Use a basketball or other round object to model the Sun. Position yourselves so that you are facing the sun. Point out where your home would be on your body–  North America would be on your chest, so when you are facing the sun, North America is experiencing daytime. Explain that the Earth rotates on its axis, which would be an imaginary line, going straight up out of your head and straight down out of your tailbone. Model the Earth’s rotation on its axis by spinning counterclockwise. Model the Earth’s orbit (revolution) around the sun by traveling around the sun. Kids can have quite a bit of fun by rotating and orbiting at the same time!

Once your child understands those two basic motions, rotation and revolution, you can begin talking about the tilt of the Earth’s axis. The North Pole of the Earth’s axis is tilted toward the star Polaris, which is 500 light years away. Have your child tilt from their waist approximately 23.5 degrees from vertical. Now you can again practice rotating and revolving, but this time incorporating the tilt of the axis. This can be very tricky but a lot of fun! Remind your child that they must keep their bodies tilted toward Polaris the whole time. The direction of the tilt should not change as you rotate and revolve.

Have your child move through the Earth’s orbit around the sun slowly. Point out that at one point his or her chest is pointed toward the sun and at one point it is tilted away from the sun. Also, there are two in-between points in the orbit. You can also mention that the tilt of the Earth’s axis has not changed (it is always towards Polaris), but their orientation to the sun has changed because of the Earth’s tilt and revolution. When the Earth is tilted toward the sun we experience summer and when we are tilted away from the sun we experience winter. The two in-between points are fall and spring.

To explain why the tilt towards or away from the sun causes seasons, you can remove your object representing the sun and instead use a flashlight to represent the sun. Stand in the middle while your child orbits around you (with the tilt), and shine a flashlight at his chest. Have him stop when he is tilted toward the sun and look at the flashlight beam on his chest. It should be concentrated in a small circle. This shows that in the summer, the sun’s rays are very direct on the Earth. Next have him stop when he is tilted away from the sun and look at the flashlight on his chest. It should be spread out, which shows that in the winter, the sun’s rays aren’t as direct on the Earth. In the fall and spring positions, the Earth is in-between the positions of direct and indirect rays.

Here is a great interactive to test their understanding after the activity!

Many of us are busy getting ready to send our children back to school, and some of our children have already started. Being a parent and a teacher, I find this busy time of year to be very exciting– full of new beginnings and new possibilities. Starting the school year in the most organized way possible helps to lessen the inevitable stress that comes with the busyness. I’ve put together a few printables, with an astronomy theme, to help during this back-to-school time.

The first printable contains four bookmarks and two binder/book labels, and the second printable is a homework chart for your child. There are many printables out there for bookmarks, charts, etc.– but only at Lie Back, Look Up can you find these unique ones for your astronomy-loving kids.

Bookmarks/Labels

Homework Chart

Here at Lie Back, Look Up, you will find plenty of stargazing and astronomy activities to do with your family. Many of these activities include free printables, as well as some tutorials and videos. Please let me know in the comments how your family has enjoyed these activities!f

A important thing to remember when stargazing with children is that you need to give them something to “do”. Many children will become bored with just looking up at the sky for long periods of time, so bringing along a great music playlist can help keep everyone occupied.

Stargazing Playlist

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star…..Elizabeth Mitchel & Lisa Loeb

Galaxy…..Jason Mraz

Why Does the Sun Shine?…..They Might Be Giants

Why Does the Sun Really Shine?…..They Might Be Giants

Galaxies…..Owl City

Star…..Earth, Wind & Fire

Bright Morning Stars……The Wailin’ Jennys

What is a Shooting Star?…..They Might Be Giants

Here Comes the Sun…..The Beatles

The Galaxy Song…..Monty Python

These are just a few of my favorite astronomy-themed songs. I especially love the entire Here Comes Science CD by They Might Be Giants– it is filled with fun science-themed songs for kids, which my seven and four-year old can listen to for hours. So let me know, what is your favorite stargazing-themed song? Feel free to take a brake for custom essay service online!

Here at Lie Back, Look Up, you will find plenty of stargazing and astronomy activities to do with your family.  Many of these activities include free printables, as well as some tutorials and videos.  Please let me know in the comments how your family has enjoyed these activities!

The landing of the Curiosity rover on the surface of Mars on August 5th can be an exciting event for your family.  Your first step is to brush up on the basics, then choose a few of these activities to do together.

Ask Dr. C– Your Personal Mars Expert

This website allows you to “ask” questions about Mars to a computerized scientist.  While typing your questions to a virtual scientist has its limitations, this site does a pretty good job of interpreting your questions and giving back detailed answers.  Dr. C seems to know quite a bit about Mars, and this can be a fun way for young children to learn a little more about the Red Planet.  You can also ask him questions about the Mars Science Laboratory mission.

Earth-Moon-Mars Balloons

Constructing a scale model of Earth, the Moon and Mars can help kids to gain some perspective on the size of Mars.  Using a blue balloon for Earth, a white balloon for the Moon and a red balloon for Mars, first have your children blow them up to the sizes that they think the three celestial bodies would be relative to each other.  Once they’ve done this, write the name of each using a permanent marker.  Now use the table below for the scale sizes for each balloon. (Note that Mars’ two moons, Phobos & Deimos, are included in the table.  This is a great thing to point out to your child– that using this scale, Mars’ two moons would be the size of grains of sand!)

Your older children can determine on their own what the scaled down size should be by dividing the actual diameter (in kilometers) by a factor of 638.  (i.e., Earth’s diameter is 12,756, so dividing it by 638 gives a scale size of approximately 20 centimeters.)  You can give your teenager a challenge by having them come up with a scale factor to use in this model, then ask them to blow up their balloons using that scale.  They will probably come up with a different scale, but as long as they can get the balloons that size, it will work!

Design a Martian Calendar

Harness your child’s creativity by asking them to create a Martian calendar.  Discuss with your kids the definition of day (the time it takes a planet to rotate once on its axis) and year (the time it takes a planet to orbit once around the Sun).  Once they’ve designed it, you can have them construct their actual calendar on the computer or by hand.

Here are a few facts that might be useful:

• One Martian day = 24.6 hours (not much longer than the Earth’s!)
• It takes Mars 670 of its days (687 Earth days) to orbit the Sun
• Mars has two moons: Phobos and Deimos
• Mars has a tilt similar to the Earth’s, so Mars has seasons too!

Some questions to ask your child:

• Are you going to have weeks?  If so, how many days will you have in a week?
• Are you going to have months?  How many?  How many days/weeks in a month?  What will you name them?
• Will you need to have any “leap years”?
• Are you going to have holidays?

Visit NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (virtually) and watch a few cool videos

This NASA website has quite a bit of detailed information on this mission, but my favorite part are the fantastic videos.  You can watch everything from Robotic Arm Target Practice to Building Curiosity: Mars Rover Power.

Creating Craters

Craters are a very common planetary surface feature, found on all of the terrestrial planets.  We don’t see very many on the Earth’s surface due to the process of plate tectonics and surface weathering.  Planets like Mars, without any active plate tectonics or flowing water (at least, not at the present!) have a greater number of craters, which indicates a much older surface.  Impact craters are caused by projectiles, traveling at very high velocities, hitting the surface.  Exploring the effect that the size and velocity (speed) of the projectile can have on the size of the crater can be a fun and educational activity for kids.

Materials:  flour, cake pan, cocoa powder, ruler, and three different sized “projectiles” (marbles, coins, rocks, etc)

Procedure:  Pour about an inch of flour into the cake pan to represent the  rock and dirt on the planet.  Before each “impact”, smooth the flour using the ruler and sprinkle a thin layer of cocoa powder on the surface.

Effect of Projectile Size:  First have your kids make a hypothesis about how the size of the projectile will affect the size and shape of the impact crater.  Then have them create a data chart and record the sizes of their three projectiles.  You can also have them draw a picture of each projectile and the impact crater that it makes.  To make the craters, hold the projectile one meter above the surface of the flour and drop it.  Have them measure the size of the crater in their data chart.  Repeat this for the other projectiles and discuss the outcome.  (Don’t forget to add a thin layer of cocoa powder before each “impact”.)

Effect of Projectile’s Velocity:  Have your kids hypothesize again about how the velocity, or speed, of the projectile will affect the size and shape of the impact crater.  Choose one of the projectiles to use for all three speeds.  Choose three different heights from which to drop the projectile (the higher the drop, the higher the velocity of the projectile).  Measure the size of the crater each time, then discuss the outcome.

Watch a Mars Movie

No, I don’t mean science fiction like Disney’s John Carter.  I mean a great NOVA movie like Is There Life on Mars? (which you can watch on-line for free!).  A Traveler’s Guide to the Planets: Mars is a great video on the basics of the Red Planet.  This is my favorite series on planetary science, and you can download each episode on iTunes for $2.99.