There are a variety of opportunities for informal engagement (through organizations and clubs such as libraries, planetariums, science centers, astronomy clubs, and scout troops) in this topic. The resources available for Sun-Earth Day are particularly geared for such venues.
Events could include bringing in speakers, holding shows in a portable planetarium, or a solar observing session, either with a special solar telescope or by projecting the sun's image on a white surface with a telescope. Check out additional tips on how to safely observe the sun.
If you are interested in holding a Sun-Earth Day event, don't forget to register! By registering you will receive a free Sun-Earth Day educational kit and monthly Sun-Earth Day e-news.
Be sure to submit photographs, artwork, music, or words of your community enjoying your activities to Share Your Stories.
Activities
| Create an Edible Model of the Sun | Children construct an edible model of the sun denoting surface and interior features. |
| Changing Shadows | Participants observe changes in shadows over time. The activity also helps to develop a sense of the Earth's motion. |
| Scale Model of Sun and Earth | This activity explores the relative size of the sun and Earth as well as the distance between them. |
| Counting Sunspots | Children and their parents discover the pattern created when plotting the number of sunspots over a long period of time. |
| Exploring Ultraviolet (UV) Light From the Sun | This activity explores ultraviolet rays from the sun and ways we can protect ourselves from these potentially harmful rays. |
| Cardboard Tube Pinhole Projector | Children can build pinhole projectors to safely watch the transit of Venus. |
| Space Weather Action Center | Students monitor the progress of an entire solar storm from the time it erupts from our sun until it sweeps past our small planet, effecting enormous changes in our magnetic field. |
