Thursday, July 10, 2008

Cut out Solar System
Childcare is doing a theme this month - space.
They've asked me to come along and talk about space. What do I tell a bunch of 4 year old's about space, hmmm;
- free energy of a vacuum? - too obvious,
- The Hertzsprung-Russell diagram? - doubly so,
- Recent observations backing up some of the more obscure predictions of Relativity? - not general enough.

Nah, they're all into robots, rockets and planets. So I'm taking along my Mars rover (shoe box with a picture stuck on either side) and a scale model of the solar system from plasticine and card. Yup - I just built the Solar system.

And now I need a rest.

8 comments:

Laura said...

Don't mention aliens. You'll scar them for life they way I was scarred for life.

Keep away from life on other plants.


And does it blow your mind a little that Pluto isn't a planet for them?

Anonymous said...

http://www.rense.com/general72/size.htm

Steph said...

Lol, someone should film it and whack it up on YouTube so we can all be edumacated about the solar system.

Ms Smack said...

Damn, you're the best Dad ever!!! That is SO cool when they're little... but consider yourself warned, when you bring too much food, or go to TOO much trouble when they're a teen, you're embarassing... yup. Thats me.

unique_stephen said...

Laura - when asked if there was life no Mars I said - no, but there should be and it should be us.

K - That's a great resource - there is a u-tube version

Steph - I'd be all to happy to give you a private lesson - As the outer solar system is rather interesting we could start with something close to Uranus.

Smack - I'm taking notes.

phishez said...

A scale model of the solar system?

I thought that to do that you'd have to have a basketball for the sun and about a k away you'd have a grain of sand for our planet.

I don't think the kids are going to understand that.

Mark Lawrence said...

Lazy sod, it wasn't even the seventh day.

unique_stephen said...

Phishez - I wanted to make the earth big enough that the kids could see it and relate it to the planet they are standing on. I made the terrestrial planets from plasticine - the earth even has green cut out continents on it with some white clouds. They are all correct to scale to within 0.5mm

I tried to do the distance thing by using words and gestures but thats harder to communicate to three and four year olds.

Mark - I suspect your the only person who got that.