Family Space Day Overview - Sun

Family Space Day is a three hour event. The activities are set up so that children
and parents can select the order in which they undertake activities. Parents and
children are encouraged to learn, play, and explore together.

Objectives of the Day

Children will:

• learn about the size, distance, and characteristics of the Sun.
• explore the different wavelengths of light emitted by the Sun.
• learn how the Sun’s light affects us.
  

This would be a great time to contact your local astronomy club and
ask them to host a solar telescope viewing at your event. You can
safely view Sunspots and more through a solar telescope!

Activities

• Station 1: Sun Posters
  Children and their parents examine 9 informational posters to learn about
  the Sun.
• Station 2: The Size of the Sun
  Children and their parents explore how the size of the Earth compares to the
  size of the Sun. This activity is integrated into Station 1: Sun Posters.
• Station 3: Paper Plate Sun
  Children and their parents investigate the relative size of our Earth and Sun
  and their distance apart, and create artistic representations of its layers and
  features.
• Station 4: The Colors of the Sunshine
  Children and their parents observe that the Sun’s “white” light is actually
  made of many different colors of light.
• Station 5: Solar S’Mores
  Children make a solar oven to make yummy S’Mores!
• Station 6: UV Thing
  Children and their parents experiment to find out what happens when the
  UV-sensitive beads are exposed to different sources of energy: visible light
  from flashlight, heat from a hair dryer, ultraviolet light from a UV lamp, and
  sunlight.
• Station 7: Amazing Rays
  Children explore the Sun’s light as energy using photosensitive paper.
• Station 8: Counting Sunspots
  Children and their parents discover the pattern created when plotting the
  number of Sunspots over a long period of time.
• Station 9: Sun Telescope
  Children and their parents view and then draw Sunspots safely by projecting
  the Sun onto a white background.
• Station 10: Coloring Sheets and Games
  Children relax and color and play simple games related to the Sun.
• Station 11: Reading Room
  Children and their parents browse and read a selection of books about the
  Sun (refer to book list for suggested reading).

Other Materials

Facilitator Information – Sun
Explore the Sun– Book and Website References
All About the Sun– A Sun Fact Sheet

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