Night and Day

School’s out, which means you’re probably looking for some fun ways to keep your kids occupied during the long summer days. Speaking of days, now is the perfect time to let the warm weather be your guide and open an opportunity for exploration of Night and Day!

What happens in a day? How about at night? At home, take some time to talk to your kids about Night and Day with these learning opportunities:

• Find out what makes day and night. You can start by finding a time lapse video on the internet and showing your kids the sunrise and sunset. Demonstrate how the sun shines on only one side of the globe as it rotates. Then, have everyone go outside at least three times in a day: early morning, midday and late afternoon, and talk about what you observe.
• Sequence events in a daily routine. Discuss your morning and evening routines. What kinds of things happen consistently each day? You can start with general descriptions like “wake up” and “eat” and then encourage them to think a little deeper. What steps do they take every night before bed? Do they have a snack or watch TV? Do they wash and brush their teeth in the morning? Do they wear the same pajamas each night? Have your kids make a list of tasks to do before bed, and refer to the list each day.
• Explore parts of a flashlight and how the parts connect to and affect each other. Incorporate a little engineering with a game of flashlight tag to make the most out of this learning experience. With adult supervision, let your kids experiment by turning the flashlight on and off, unscrewing parts, taking out batteries, etc. Work together to put the flashlight back together again and help your kids identify parts and how the pieces with each other.
• Investigate sources of energy. The next time you’re in a room together, turn off the light switch. Ask your kids to describe what just happened? The lights went off. The room got darker. Is it totally dark? Can they see light coming from other sources? Turn the light back on, and challenge them to think of many places that light comes from.

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