Video of the week
What are stars and constellations? (click here to watch the video).
Synopsis
What are stars and constellations? In this educational cartoon for children we explain briefly what stars are, how they vary in size, colour and temperature. We show our Sun – closest star to the Earth – in comparison with larger stars such as: Sirius, Vega, Arcturus, Aldebaran, and others. Children will learn some facts about our Sun and why the stars seem moving across the sky. In the last part of the video we teach children how to find the Polaris, or North Star, and several constellations (Great Bear, or Ursa Major, and Little Bear, or Ursa Minor, Orion, and Cassiopeia in the night sky. Towards the end of the cartoon we also explain what are shooting stars.
Weekly Activities
We watched the video at basecamp and then gave the children books to look at about space, the universe, stars and constellations. We read and talked about about the big bang and which planets are in our solar system.
For the activity, we needed some card, pens or chalk, a hole punch, scissors and a light source such as a phone torch or lamp. We started by letting the children choose which constellation they would like to make. Once they had chosen, they used the scissors to cut the card in half. The practitioner then drew dots on the card outlining the shape of the constellation. The children used either chalk, crayons or pens to join the dots together so they could see the shape of their constellation. They used a hole punch to make holes where the dots were. The practitioner wrote the name of the constellation on the card and shined a bright light through the back of the card, lighting up the constellation to great effect! Some of the children used the sun as their light source and held their up cards to let the sun shine through.
Aims and Objectives
Explore space, our solar system and constellations
Develop hand-eye co-ordination
Develop manipulation and control
Develop confidence in using tools
Listen and follow instructions
Home Activity
Make an expanding paper telescope at home with your child by watching the video link below from Kids English Theatre along with reading the book: Shark In The Park - by Nick Sharratt - a story about a little boy who takes his new telescope to the park and is convinced he spots a shark.
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