Our next topic in our astronomy project was stars. Stars are such a broad topic and you can cover many different areas; types of stars, the life cycle of a star, the birth of stars and our star - the Sun. We started off by watching a short video about stars which I found on YouTube by Storybots. Storybots really make learning fun by introducing topics through song.
Songs about stars
This was a firm favourite with my children. They asked to watch this for days after and soon learnt the words and started singing it round the house. They also loved this song about the Sun.
Do stars twinkle? Experiment
Next we did an experiment to discover if stars really twinkle. It turns out they do not, the atmosphere in space makes them look like they are twinkling. This is the experiment we tried.
After this we had some fun crafting. I gave the children some lolly sticks and sequins and asked them to make their own twinkling star.
Star craft
Then we moved on to the Sun. I gave the children some black card and chalk pastels and asked them to draw the Sun.
Learning about the Sun
Then they stuck facts about the Sun around the edges of the picture. Above is R's attempt and below is D's. D wrote the facts herself as she enjoys writing.
Next we spoke about the different types of stars from white dwarfs to red giants.
Star facts
We talked about how our star was medium-sized and how there are other stars that are much bigger than it. I told them how the Sun was only half way through its life cycle and how it would change throughout its life. Here is the diagram I used to explain this.
Nebulae in a jar
Finally we talked about how stars are born. I showed them pictures of nebulae and told them how stars are created out of gas and dust in the nebulae. We then made our own nebulae in glass jars using this tutorial.
This was the children's favourite activity. They loved filling up the jar with water, paint, glitter and cotton wool and asked to make more straight away. I need to get some more jars!
The children have now put these jars on their windowsill in their room and I think they make a lovely decoration.
Have you been learning about the stars?
Check out our other astronomy topics. We have covered the Moon, the planets and the Earth.
Sounds like fun! The project turned out great, and the jars look so cool!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Sumaira :)
DeleteWhat a fantastic and well-rounded lesson on stars. I love the idea of nebulae in a jar - reminds me of the cat's pendant in the film Men in Black!
ReplyDeleteThank you :) now Men in Black is a film I haven't watched for a long time!
DeleteLoved the jars activities! such a creative way to teach your little ones mashAllah, activities like these were always my favourite way of learning, even when I'm 30 now haha! its the best way and the memories definitely last a life time :-)
ReplyDeleteThank you, it's so important to make learning fun.
DeleteMasha'Allah so many fun activities. Will have to try some of these with the girls
ReplyDeleteI recommend the nebula activity. That was a firm favourite!
DeleteThis post takes me back to my school days when I used to study science. That's actually where I learnt about the whole solar system and astronomy. That's a great idea to teach kids about it.
ReplyDeleteScience lessons were among my favourite. Shame we never got to learn as much as I would have liked about astronomy. I find it fascinating.
DeleteI love how you tied everything together sister mashaALlah! Esp the nebulae in a jar, I so wanna try it!
ReplyDeleteThank you sister :)
DeleteLove this it looks so cool!! (Www.beautywithzainy.com and www.spicyfusionkitchen.com)
ReplyDeleteThank you Zainab :)
DeleteI never did this or think about stars like this way but I am totally loving it. Such a creative and cool way. Great lessons ❤
ReplyDeleteThank you Yousra
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