SPINNING EARTH
TIME REQUIRED: 20 minutes
MATERIALS REQUIRED: An apple, string, a toothpick, and a flashlight.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE: Children will learn how the Earth spins on its
axis, making day and night.
INTRODUCTION: Did you know that right now, the earth is spinning like
a top? We don't feel dizzy because the planet is so
big we can't feel it moving. It may seem like we're standing still and the sun is moving around us. But the earth
spinning around and round is what gives us day and night.
STEP 1: Tie a string around the stem of an apple. Stick a toothpick
into the apple. Let the apple represent the earth, and the toothpick can
be you.
STEP 2: Go into a room that would be dark if you turned the lights out.Shine a flashlight onto your earth-apple. The flashlight is the sun.
Hold it still, because the sun dosen't move. Now ... turn the lights out.
STEP 3: See how half of the apple is in the light and half of it is in
darkness? The side facing the flashlight-sun is the side of the earth
that is having daylight. Were is the toothpick? Are you in the day or
night side of the apple?
STEP 4: Now turn the earth-apple slowly by twisting the string. Watch
as your toothpick figure moves in and out of night and day. Each time you
go completely around it makes one whole day. It takes our planet 24 hours to go all the way around, and this is what the earth does for us each
and every day.
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designed and maintained by
Jacquie M. Eastland &
Central Texas Online™.
Revised
09/25/2007
Home Educator's Network, Inc