Space resources for kids

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kerrya1
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Space resources for kids

Post by kerrya1 » Tue Jan 17, 2023 12:27 pm

I've just become a Beaver leader (6-8 7ear olds) and one of the badges we are doing this session is Space. I was hoping to get some cool meteorite samples from the Royal Observatory of Edinburgh to show the kids, rather than just pictures and a (probably) cloudy sky, but they are only available for schools.

Does anyone on here have any cool materials I could borrow to share with the kids? I would only need them for one evening and will return them straight afterwards, paying all expenses.

I just want to do more than colouring in a picture of the solar system and talking about the phases of the moon.

Thanks

K

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Gfamily
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Re: Space resources for kids

Post by Gfamily » Tue Jan 17, 2023 1:06 pm

kerrya1 wrote:
Tue Jan 17, 2023 12:27 pm
I've just become a Beaver leader (6-8 7ear olds) and one of the badges we are doing this session is Space. I was hoping to get some cool meteorite samples from the Royal Observatory of Edinburgh to show the kids, rather than just pictures and a (probably) cloudy sky, but they are only available for schools.

Does anyone on here have any cool materials I could borrow to share with the kids? I would only need them for one evening and will return them straight afterwards, paying all expenses.

I just want to do more than colouring in a picture of the solar system and talking about the phases of the moon.

Thanks

K
Hi Kerry
Have you seen if there are any Astro Societies in your area that may be able to help. Not all of them will be set up for helping with badges etc, but you may strike lucky.
You can find Astro Societies on the following website https://gostargazing.co.uk/astronomy-groups-in-the-uk/

I run the Mid Cheshire Astro Group and we have been to a few Cubs/Brownie groups (though not so much over the last couple of years).
One thing we have done is create a model solar system using polystyrene balls to show the relative sizes of the planets
I have an online calculator that does the calculations for you - it does depend on having access to a good craft shop, but it may be of use.

It is currently set up so that Jupiter is represented by a 10cm planet, as it was relatively easy to get 8cm, 4cm and 1cm balls for Saturn, Neptune/Uranus and Earth/Venus respectively - I found little wooden beads for Mars and Mercury that were about the right size. However, feel free to play about with the settings to see what resources you can work with.
I have a 1 metre diameter circle of bright yellow fabric to represent the Sun.

I also had a 15metre fabric tape measure that I could use to show how far the planets are from the Sun (different scale of course). Using this scale, if Jupiter was at a distance of 2.5metres, I could just get Neptune at about 15 metres distance. What's interesting is to show how close the Earth is to the Sun in relative terms.
Solar System scale.jpg
Solar System scale.jpg (75.76 KiB) Viewed 415 times
Afraid I can't loan out our balls as we're going to be seeing a local group in the next month or so.
My avatar was a scientific result that was later found to be 'mistaken' - I rarely claim to be 100% correct
ETA 5/8/20: I've been advised that the result was correct, it was the initial interpretation that needed to be withdrawn
Meta? I'd say so!

kerrya1
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Re: Space resources for kids

Post by kerrya1 » Tue Jan 17, 2023 1:21 pm

This is great, I'm pretty sure I can get the balls in the right sizes, I can use Fimo to make the smaller ones, and the hall is more than 15 meters long so I should be able to set this up.


Where it says Inner and Outer for saturn I assume that is the inside and outside of the rings.

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Gfamily
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Re: Space resources for kids

Post by Gfamily » Tue Jan 17, 2023 2:42 pm

kerrya1 wrote:
Tue Jan 17, 2023 1:21 pm
This is great, I'm pretty sure I can get the balls in the right sizes, I can use Fimo to make the smaller ones, and the hall is more than 15 meters long so I should be able to set this up.


Where it says Inner and Outer for saturn I assume that is the inside and outside of the rings.
Yes, we cut a ring shape out of paper and laminated it, then cut it out leaving two tabs that we could stick into slots cut into the polystyrene planet for Saturn.
Screenshot_2023-01-17-14-39-25-01_92460851df6f172a4592fca41cc2d2e6.jpg
Screenshot_2023-01-17-14-39-25-01_92460851df6f172a4592fca41cc2d2e6.jpg (36.06 KiB) Viewed 384 times
My avatar was a scientific result that was later found to be 'mistaken' - I rarely claim to be 100% correct
ETA 5/8/20: I've been advised that the result was correct, it was the initial interpretation that needed to be withdrawn
Meta? I'd say so!

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