Sidewalk Chalk Solar System Model

Sometimes it isn't until you can really see something that you can truly understand it. That's tricky when it comes to learning about outer space. To help my boys understand the distance of the planets from the sun, we made a model on the sidewalk with chalk.

Supplies

Sidewalk chalk in various colors

Bowls, plates, lids for tracing

Tape measure

Illustration of the planets as a reference

What to Do

Draw a VERY large sun with chalk. Look at your bowls, lids, and plates. Use your illustration of the solar system as a guide, picking the largest bowl for Jupiter and others to represent the relative size of the remaining seven planets.

Now use the following measurements and the tape measure; trace the circles, coloring them to match your illustration. Label each.

Distance from the Sun to Mercury = 12 inches

Distance from Mercury to Venus = 10 inches

Distance from Venus to Earth = 8 inches

Distance from Earth to Mars = 16 inches

Distance from Mars to Jupiter = 9 1/2 feet

Distance from Jupiter to Saturn = 19 feet

Distance from Saturn to Uranus = 24 feet

Distance from Uranus to Neptune = 28 feet

*These distances have been rounded to make measuring easier for small children.

The model is not an exact representation of the distances.

Talk about which planets are closest to the sun and which are farthest. Make hypotheses about what each planet is might be like, based on its distance from the sun.

Since we recently read a book about the mission to Mars, I reminded my son that it will take two months for astronauts to travel from Earth to Mars. Knowing that, how long would it take to travel to other planets if we could?

This activity was simple, yet packed with learning potential. And the best part is that it hasn't even rained yet. Our solar system is still there for us to explore! 

Great Books to Pair with This Activity

This activity was adapted from The Astronomical Society of the Pacific.

3 Ways to Teach Kids Who Don't Like Art about da Vinci

My boys and I had a lot of fun learning about Leonardo da Vinci, Renaissance painter, engineer, musician, etc. Our lesson consisted of three simple activities.

Normally, my oldest son groans when I even mention art, but this time I promised him that although we were learning about a legendary artist, we wouldn't be making any of our own. He was game.

To start we read a phenomenal book by Jean Fritz. Leonardo's Horse provides some great background on the artist and then discusses the bronze horse commission he died still dreaming about. It goes on to share how Leonardo's unfinished work became the purpose and wish of Charles Dent, an airline pilot and art enthusiast, who intended to finish da Vinci's work from 500 years earlier. The book was a little advanced for our five year old, but the nine year old was positively enthralled.

No. 1  Backwards Writing

One of the phenomenal facts shared in Fritz's book was that Leonardo could write backwards, from the left side of the page to the right, making it nearly impossible to read without a mirror.

For my oldest son's first activity, I gave him a list of da Vinci facts with the writing inverted left to right. Download the 1-page PDF here.

At first he was confused. "I can't read this. It's in another language!" But upon further study, he realized what it was, so he quickly ran to the mirror.

No. 2  Studying Body Proportion

Leonardo was fascinated with the anatomy of the human body and its proportions. I showed my sons the picture of his Vitruvian Man in Fritz's book. Then I grabbed a measuring tape. I asked my oldest son to hold his arms straight out from his sides. My youngest son measured his brother's arm span from finger tip to finger tip. Now we measured his height. The numbers were the about same!

Another marvel of the human body is that our feet are the same length as the distance between our elbow and our wrist. The boys are pretty flexible and so the measuring tape was not needed to see that in fact, your foot fits perfectly in that space!

No. 3  Chocolate Casting

Since a fair portion of Fritz's book talks about the process of bronze casting, I thought it would be fun for the boys to have their hand at it … but with chocolate. First we filled a small plastic container with brown sugar and packed it down tight. Then we pressed some square candies (sort of like Starburst) into the sugar to make a mold.

Before we inserted them, we added toothpicks to make them easier to remove. When pressing down, we applied pressure to the the square candies (not the toothpick as it would have poked right through) until the tops of the candies were level with the sugar. Lastly, we melted chocolate chips on the stove in a double broiler and poured it into the cavities left by the removed candies.

After a short time in the refrigerator, we removed our chocolate squares and dusted off the extra sugar. Then we popped them in our mouths. YUM.

This was a fun - and delicious - exploration of one of the most phenomenal minds of the Renaissance.  

How to Make a Water Clock

When I explained to my eight year old son that ancient peoples didn't have clocks like we do today, he was surprised. I don't think the thought had ever occurred to him that without batteries or electricity, the hands of a clock simply couldn't move.

In Ancient Greece, they used a water clock to time short events. It was called a clepsydra (KLEP-sye-druh). I thought it would be fun to make our own version of these ancient clocks.

What You Need

masking tape

fine-tip permanent marker

two of the same empty plastic beverage bottles

thumbtack

pitcher of water

timer (we used a stopwatch app on the iPad)

craft knife (to be used by an adult only)

funnel to make pouring easier

How to Make It

Remove the labels from the beverage bottles for clear viewing to the inside.

An adult should cut one of the tops off the bottle with a craft knife. Recycle the top; you won't need it. With the top cut off, the bottom of the other bottle should fit snuggly down into it. Label the bottles if you'd like (bottle A is the complete bottle and bottle B is the one you've cut).

Turn the complete bottle over (bottle A) and put a thumbtack through the center of the bottom of the bottle to make a small hole. (This is the hardest part of the whole project.)

Mark on this bottle where the full line is (figure this out by nesting bottle A inside the bottle B; the distance from the bottom of bottle B up to the bottom of bottle A or slightly below is where you should draw the line on bottle A). Note: We botched this up but it's important to know how full to fill your bottle each time. You'll want to be consistent.

Grab a length of masking tape and adhere it vertically to the side of the cut bottle (bottle B).

Now get your timer and the pitcher of water ready. Pour the water, using a funnel if desired, into the neck of bottle A (your bottles should be nested) and immediately start the timer. Pour up to the fill line on bottle A.

When one minute passes, make a small mark at the water line on the masking tape on bottle B. Continue to mark the minutes until the water has completely emptied from the top bottle into the bottom one. We only marked the first 10 minutes, but you can mark as many minutes as you'd like.

Now you can dump out the water and put the timer aside. Another pour of the pitcher and you can calculate how long something takes with just your water clock!

This great activity was adapted from instructions in the book Spend the Day in Ancient Greece.

Math Mission: Find the Secret of the Circle

Want a great activity that uses materials around your home? One that teaches math vocabulary? Introduces advanced math concepts simply? And is hands-on?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, this activity is a great one for your child. My third-grade son loved it!

What you need:

A ruler and/or a tape measure

pencil

paper

calculator

string

scissors

Circular objects (we used four)

This activity teaches:

• The difference between circumference (measurement AROUND the circle) and diameter (measurement THROUGH the exact center of the circle) .
• That the circumference of a circle is always in the same ratio to its diameter.
• How no matter the size of the circle, the diameter is always approximately 3 times smaller than the circumference.
• Math vocabulary (e.g. ratio, diameter, circumference).

Skills used: measuring, translating fractions into decimals, deductive reasoning, and division.

Before my son got home from school, I raided the kitchen cabinets and grabbed a glass, bowl small plastic food storage container, and a saucer. All of these objects were round and their shape could easily be traced onto paper.

After he dropped his backpack at the door and was sufficiently nourished with a tall glass  of milk and a homemade cookie, he got to work. One by one, he traced the shapes on blank pieces of paper. NOTE: all the objects I chose were small enough to trace onto standard office paper.

Next, he measured the diameter of each circle. To find the exact center, we folded the paper (making sure the edges of the circle lined up). Then he used yarn (I'd recommended a string that doesn't stretch; our yarn may have skewed some of the results slightly) to wrap around the base of each object. The yarn was the same size as the circles he'd drawn. Once it was measured, the circumference of each object recorded.

Now came the fun part, he divided the circumference by the diameter for each circle using a calculator. (This required figuring out what the decimal for 3/8, 5/8, 3/4, and 7/8 were.)

All of our answers were 3, plus a little. My son was able to deduce that no matter what the size of the circle, the ratio of the diameter to the circumference was basically the same. And THAT'S the secret of the circle!

If your measurements are precise enough, the number will  be PI (3.141592635). Even with our stretchy yarn, we ended up with 3.0163, 3.2, 3.11, and 3.1304. Not bad, I'd say!

This great activity came from Math Wizardry for Kids by Margaret Kenda and Phyllis S. Williams.

2 Air-Powered Rockets

We're no strangers to air-powered experiments. Check out our balloon-powered pinwheel and swimming balloon squid. The success of those two activities pretty much guaranteed my son would have a blast with this.

Rocket with a Drinking Straw Launcher

CREDIT: Dollar Store Crafts

Here's what you'll need:

Disposable Bendable Drinking Straw

Two pictures of rockets (use clip art or draw your own; just make sure they are mirror images)

Toothpick

Thread/string

Hot glue

Cut out your rocket pictures. Ours were approximately 2 inches by 1 inch in size.

Turn one of the rocket pictures over and place a small bead of hot glue running up the center. Place the toothpick in the glue so half of it extends out the bottom of your rocket.

Add glue on either side of the toothpick and carefully add threads to simulate engine exhaust (remember, the glue is HOT!). Now add some more glue to the entire rocket and place the other picture on top, sandwiching the toothpick and threads.

Grab a straw and insert the toothpick into one end. Blow through the other end to launch your rocket.

Turn this into a measuring activity! We placed a measuring tape on the ground and kept track of which launch went the farthest. My son's record was 5 ft. 8 inches!

Balloon-Powered Rocket

CREDIT: A Little Learning for Two

Here's what you'll need:

Packing tape

Picture of a rocket (use clip art or draw your own)

Disposable drinking straw

String/Twine/Cording

Cut a long length of your string and affix one end to a surface that's elevated (make sure it's not too high for your child to reach). We used the packing tape to hold it. Now cut the drinking straw in half. Thread it through the end of the other end of the string.

Now tape that end to another area that is lower, so the string is at an angle.

Blow up a balloon but do not tie the end closed. Use a piece of packing tape to adhere the balloon to the straw that is on the string. Make sure the open end of the balloon is pointing toward the elevated end of the string.

 Keep the balloon pinched shut with your hands or use a clothespin. Add a loop of the tape on top of the straw and place your rocket picture on top.

Now release the balloon and watch the rocket whiz down the string!

NOTE: We found it difficult to reuse the balloons so if you do this, have LOADS of extras handy. We launched our balloon-powered rockets again and again and again. It just never got old!

Catching and Plotting Rainfall

If you're on Pinterest, you've seen this amazing rain gauge project. The simplicity, short material list, and learning opportunity have made it a favorite among kids and parents for years - my son and I included.

To make it you'll need a clear plastic bottle (like a 2-liter soda bottle) or a large water bottle. We used a Smart Water bottle. Remove the label. Have a ruler, scissors, and a permanent fine-tip marker handy.

Cut the top of the bottle off with a knife or scissors; young children should leave this up to grown-ups to do. Now align a ruler so the end of the ruler is at the bottom of the bottle and make small marks with the marker up the side of the bottle where the inches or centimeter lines are.

Now take the top of the bottle and place the spout upside down inside the bottle. With a little pressure, it will fit snugly.

Head outside and find the ideal spot to place your rain gauge (away from trees, etc.). Dig a shallow hole and secure the bottle inside it.

Now wait … and wait … and wait. Apparently making a rain gauge was just what we needed to chase away the stormy skies. While this spring has been extremely wet (parts of our city were sandbagging two weeks ago as the river threatened to exceed its banks), since my son made his rain gauge, not a drop has fallen. (What's that they say about the best laid plans?)

When it does, though, he'll be ready with this Daily Rain Record.

Each day, he'll plot the amount our rain gauge catches by drawing a dot on the line. Then he'll check all the boxes that apply to the type of rainfall (e.g. mist, downpour, shower).

Download a PDF of this Daily Rain Record free here.

When he has seven days of data, he'll draw lines between the dots, total the rainfall, and find the average by dividing the total by seven.

You didn't think I was just going to make this a science lesson did you? (he he) I just had to sneak a little math in.

Looking for a great book to read to pair with this activity? We read Elizabeth Miles' Watching the Weather: Rain. It covered why we need rain, helped us review the water cycle, and explained drought, floods, and acid rain - all in terms a soon-to-be third grader could understand.

Drop, Pop, & Measure [Math with Pom Pom Poppers]

Some activities are a sure thing when it comes to fun. This is one of them. I knew it from the second I saw the Pom Pom Poppers made by Laura at Come Together Kids.

Supplies you need are scissors, plastic disposable drinking cups (two per popper), balloons (one per popper), and some pom pom balls.

Nest two cups together, one inside the other (two cups provides more stability). Cut the bottom third of the cups off with scissors and discard. Now take a balloon and tie it closed (do not inflate). Cut the tip of the balloon off (the end opposite the knot). Stretch the balloon over the rim (not the cut side) of the two cut plastic cups. Laura's tutorial is amazing; check it out here.

Once the poppers were ready, my sons could barely contain themselves. My oldest boy's mouth was like a machine gun shooting out question after question. "What are we going to do with these?" "They're drums right?" "Is it another kind of instrument?"

Without uttering a word, I grabbed a bag of pom poms, dropped one in the cup, pulled the tie on the balloon back and popped the ball into the air.

My sons' eyes got big and their chins dropped.

I grabbed a measuring tape and some blue painters tape to make a line to stand behind. The goal was to see who could launch a pom pom the farthest.

My oldest son recorded the distances in inches.

The simple act of documenting the launch distances had so many wonderful lessons:

• How many pom poms of any given color were launched?
• Can you turn those inches into feet?
• Can you put them in order from least distance to greatest distance?
• How much farther did your farthest pom pom go than the next farthest, etc.?
• What was the average distance of your pom poms?

As we continue to get hammered with more and more rain, I was thrilled to provide an indoor learning activity that provided so much fun!

Top 10 Favorite Math Activities of 2012

My son loves math ... almost as much as chicken nuggets. Here's a recap of some of our favorite math activities from this past year.

No.1    Fridge Football

My son and I have played this so much, he has all the answers to the subtraction problems memorized! This simple game is a great drill for subtraction problems and counting by twos! Instructions and a free printable game board and playing cards are here.

No. 2    Math Post-It Note Scavenger Hunt

Practicing math facts has never been so fun. Send kids around the house (or school) answering one math problem at a time. Solve the problems right and a prize is yours! Cheap, easy, and gets their brains and bodies moving! Instructions here.

No. 3    Driveway Dice Roll Game

Turn your driveway into a giant board game where the kids are the game pieces. With a tissue box cube turned die, kids will roll, add, and subtract their way to the finish. Instructions here.

No. 4    Geometry Jump

Print geometric shaped game pieces out on colored cardstock. Get kids "swimming," dancing, and hopping from one shape to a parallelogram, trapezoid, even number, or the answer to 12 plus 13 (for example). This game is perfect for kinesthetic learners and practices a ton of different math skills in one game. Free printables and instructions here.

No. 5    Miniature Multiplication Ring Toss

What can you do with a small square of styrofoam, some popsicle sticks and a few plastic drink rings? Practice multiplication, of course! This fun ring toss turns learning multiplication facts into a game! Instructions and a free multiplication table printable here.

No. 6    Post-It Page Marker Math

Match the math problems to the answer and add hair to child's head, fur to a lion's mane, and quills to a hedgehog using Post-It page markers! Free printables here. 

No. 7    DIY Balancing Scale

Kids can learn about measuring, weight, and balance with a hanger, some yarn, and a few plastic cups. Don't underestimate the enjoyment that can come from such a simple activity! Instructions here.

No. 8    Fraction Match Card Game

This simple game is a modified version of "Go Fish." Kids will have a blast matching up colored shapes, pies, and numeral representations of fractions to see who can match up all their cards first! Free printable game, instructions, and book recommendation here.

No. 9    Round Around (Rounding Single Digits Board Game)

Round up or round down, move forward and back around the game board until the first player to the finish wins. Don't be overly confident! Players close to the finish are often sent backwards by rounding down. That's what makes this game great for adults to play with kids; you never know who'll win! Get this great printable and instructions here.

No. 10    Scrambled Schedule

Uh oh! A schedule of the day's activities is a scrambled mess! Kids put it in order, acting out each of the activities before finding the next one. This active time-telling game will get kids doing somersaults, jumping jacks, and dancing. Free printable and directions here.

It's Snowing Angles!

Have you ever looked at a snowflake? It's made up of a TON of angles!

While we have yet to see a flurry of white flakes falling where we live, that doesn't mean that a little winter weather-inspired math practice wasn't in order.

My son has learned right angles at school but that's it. I figured we could step it up a notch. I gave him a protractor and watched for curiosity to sweep across his face.

Sure enough, it did.

Then I explained that right angles are 90 degrees, obtuse angles are greater than 90 degrees, and acute angles are less than 90 degrees. I showed him how to line up the bottom of his protractor to tell the size of an angle.

Now, I handed him red, blue, and green markers and a page with four snowflakes.

Download a free 1-page PDF of this worksheet here.

Time to find and color the three different kind of angles. This took some practice and even though it was hard, I knew it was a success when my son said, "You know, this is kind of fun!"

When he grew tired of coloring angles, I got out a package of jumbo popsicle sticks and told him it was time for us to make a snowflake. This amazing math craft is the sheer genius of Peggy Banks over at DIY Crafty Projects.

With a low-temp glue gun and the protractor in hand, we gradually glued together the sticks to form a giant wooden snowflake. During its construction, I asked loads of questions to get him thinking (e.g. "So is that an ACUTE angle or a RIGHT angle?"). 

Peggy's instructions at DIY Crafty Projects are amazing. Follow her tutorial here; she shows you step-by-step how to make several different shaped snowflakes.

Once it our snowflake was complete, I sprayed it with red spray paint and red glitter spray; then when it was dry, hung it in the window with fishing line.

Not only is this a beautiful addition to our holiday decor, but it's a month-long reminder of our afterschool angles lesson! Now that's what I call a real win-win.

DIY Balancing Scale

When my son came home from school with math homework that asked him to estimate the weight of objects, judging which was heavier, I knew it was time to make a DIY balancing scale. This idea is brainchild of Quirky Momma Deirdre Smith, aka JDaniel4’s Mom.

Construction is simple. I used a wire pants hanger from the dry cleaner, yarn, and two sturdy paper cups. At the two bottom ends of the hanger, I hung yarn, to which I tied a paper cup (I’d punched holes in the paper cup just below the rim).

The cardboard tube on the pants hanger kept the yarn from moving along the bottom of the hanger. Note: Make sure your cups hang equal distance.

Now hang over a door knob and get ready for some math fun!

My son grabbed lots of small objects. I grabbed a handful of quarters.

He put an object in one cup and balanced the scale with quarters in the other cup. We recorded the weights.

1 matchbox car = 4 quarters

1 calculator = 5 quarters

1 LEGO Ninjago spinner = 5 quarters

1 mini flashlight = 6 quarters

1 yoda writing pen = 3 quarters

2 rocks = 3 quarters

Now I asked him what object weighed the most. “Easy!” he said. “The flashlight!” I asked him how he knew that was the heaviest. “Because it took the most quarters to balance it.”

“Why not use rocks as a unit of measurement?” I asked. This required some thought. After a long pause, he said, “Because they’re not the same size?”

“YES! The quarters are a good unit of measurement because they all weigh the same. The rocks do not.”

I kept the questions coming. My son was up to the challenge. “If the yoda pen and the 2 rocks both took 3 quarters each to balance the scale, what conclusion can we form?”

“They weigh the same!” he said. We put them in the cups and, lo and behold, the scale was balanced. The hanger was level.

When I asked my son later what his favorite part of the day was, believe it or not, our DIY scale was it. I LOVE that my son loves learning!

Measuring 3 Dimensions

I am still under the delusion that summer should be just as carefree as it was when I was a kid. As a good friend pointed out to me, once you have kids, summer is crazy busy. This activity was a great learning opportunity that I threw together in 10 minutes – perfect for a busy day of summer camp and baseball practice.

I grabbed a handful of items from our pantry with straight sides. I measured the width, depth, and height (or length) of each and noted the dimensions on a post-it note – one note for each object.

My son’s job was to measure the objects and label each with the right post-it note. Before we got started, we did a little reading.

The first part of David Adler’s book Perimeter, Area, and Volume: A Monster Book of Dimensions provided a great explanation of dimensions – how anything we can hold or walk around has three, and pictures of things have just two. It also illustrated what width, depth, and height (or length) are.

Once we’d reviewed this, my son was ready to put the ruler to use.

After he’d stuck the post-its onto all the items, he flipped them over to check if they were correct. (I’d written the name of each object on the back of its dimensions.)

He thought he’d just measure one dimension of each object to find the match, but confused width and depth and mistakenly matched several. A quick review of the differences between width, depth, and height and my son could see what he’d done wrong.

Ruler of the Ruler (A Measuring Activity)

To have a little fun with measuring, I turned my son into the Ruler of the Ruler, complete with a crown too!

To start our activity, we read Brian P. Cleary’s book How Long or How Wide?: A Measuring Guide (it was my inspiration). If you’re a regular reader than just skip this part; you’ve already heard me gush about Cleary’s books.

This book provided my son some great background on millimeters, inches, centimeters, feet, and yards. After reading the book front to back, my son wanted to go back through and even asked if we could replicate a “12 inches = 1 foot and 3 feet = 1 yard” graphic as an activity. (Whoa, now my son is coming up with his own ideas for activities? My job as a parent just got easier!)

Before I handed him the ruler, I gave him a piece of cardstock to make his Ruler of the Ruler crown.

Download a PDF of the ruler crown here.
Print on heavyweight cardstock, cut along the middle line, and staple or tape together to fit.

When I finally pulled him away from the book, I gave him a ruler and recording sheet. (Click on the picture below to download a PDF.)

His job was to find six things shorter than 12 inches and six things longer than 12 inches. He measured each of them.

Then, he wrote the objects and their measurements on the worksheet to form six 'greater than' math sentences (for example, the table at 56 inches is greater than the book that is only 7 inches).