Space study

We are in the middle of a space study. We started with earth, and then we ventured into space. We have been reviewing facts daily. Today we played a game to help the boys with review. I asked them what type of game they wanted, and they chose a jumping game (of course!).

Ryan was chosen to throw a stuffed animal at Justin and Jonathan to make it harder to jump to the next "level". If they got the question right, they were able to jump.


Here are just a few of the many questions I have been asking them in our morning review time. Facts are taken from Usborne Children's Encyclopedia.

1. The earth measures how many miles around the equator? Answer: 25,000 miles
2. The earth weighs apprx how much? Answer: 6,000 million million million tons (how could they possible KNOW this? :-O
3. Where is the hottest place on earth? Answer: the Sahara Desert
4. Where is the coldest place on earth? Answer: Antartica
5. What is the layer of air surrounding the earth called? Answer: The atmosphere
   
   
   
   I also had questions about what fraction of the earth is covered by land and water, what is the largest mountain, and how much of the earth's surface is covered by ice. Further questions were asked about the planets. We are still reviewing and adding more facts daily.
   
   Jonathan was so fascinated the other day by the fact that a pinhead as hot as the sun could kill you from 90 miles away, that he had to tell Daddy when he got home from work.

I found this picture to use as a model for our project:

I found a tray box lying around. They painted it black for the back-drop of space and then added some stars.

Back to the my favorite cornstarch dough recipe (recipe on the bottom of the post):

The Encyclopedia we are using. The pictures are really nice:

We formed the dough into balls. We looked at the picture I found online to give us an idea of the right size.

Ryan had paint on his face, of course...

The almost finished project (I finished it up by painting the outside of the box too).

This probably will get dropped or broken or smashed, but I hope the memories will stick.

Doing a hands-on project like this had a huge affect even on me. We talked about how just thinking about the size of our earth, trying to compare that with all of the other planets in our galaxy, and knowing that doesn't even touch what is really out there. Our God is really AMAZING!

Cornstarch Clay

• 1 cup cornstarch
• 2 cups salt
• 1 1/3 cups cold water

Put salt and 2/3 cup water in pan and bring to a boil. Mix cornstarch with 2/3 cup water and mix well. Blend 2 mixtures together and knead into clay. The dough has to be heated as it is combined to set. Makes about 3 cups. This clay can be air dried and then painted. Store unused clay in airtight container in the fridge.
Found this recipe here