Sun Time

This is from part of the week we learned about the sun.  The line "Spiderman" got to memorize, and the theme of his scriptures and mini-devotionals for the week was, "Jesus is the light of the world."

(These ideas came from the still fabulous curriculum we use, My Father's World)

Our science (aka fun learning activity) was to make a sundial.  I made the dough ahead of time and we made the sun dial together.  The kids marked the lines in the dough (you could also use clay) and I wrote the time.  It was fun and cool for them to see how you can tell time from where the sun is in the sky.  It was about 10:30am when I took this picture of the sun dial....the shadow falls a little before our line for 11am.

Here is the recipe we used for the dough (again from our curriculum), you can of course make it any color you want.

In a pan mix:

                                 1 to 1-1/4 cups flour

                                 1/4 cup salt

                                 2 T. cream of tartar

Combine and add to the pan:

                               1 cup water

                               1 T. oil

                               a few drops food coloring

You could take this lesson so many different directions with different ages.  You could do this as part of a Native American unit for history, a unit on seasons or one that includes moon phases, planets, and meteors, or just sometime when you're working on clocks and telling time.  

My favorite thing is that it tied it into Heavenly Father.  The sun is the light of the world just like Christ is.  And just like the sun shines indiscriminately on all people, Christ's love and the gift of the atonement are available for all people everywhere.