The kid is very interested in the world around him. The child is constantly striving to expand the circle of his knowledge, and one fine day he notices small luminous points in the black night sky. And he asks several questions at once, because he is interested not only in the name, but also why these points glow, and how far they are, and whether they will fall on the roof, and much more. In this case, it is better for parents to get ahead of the curious researcher by telling and showing what he can understand.
Necessary
- - a map of the starry sky (electronic can be used);
- - telescope;
- - big and small balls;
- - the globe;
- - pocket flashlight.
Instructions
Step 1
Show your child how the size of the object changes depending on the distance. This can be done on any walk. For example, there is a car near the house, and it seems to be very large. But the same car went to the other end of the street and looks very small, although it is the same car. Observe other objects as well.
Step 2
Experiment with a luminous object. This could be a flashlight, for example. Hold it in front of the child. Pay attention to how bright the flashlight is. Move to the other end of the room and tell. As you move away from the observer, the luminous object will appear smaller and less bright. An older and even middle-aged child can already be explained that the stars are far away, so they seem small. You can tell a three-year-old baby this too - let him be surprised.
Step 3
Explain that each star is a large ball of light. This ball emits a huge amount of energy, which is why it glows. The ball is very far away, but its light still reaches the Earth. Since the child already knows that an object at a great distance seems small, he will understand that the situation with the stars is the same as with everything else.
Step 4
Tell your child that the Sun is also a star. There are other stars that are much larger than the Sun, but they seem small because they are far away. The earth appears to a child to be enormous. It is close, we live on it, but in reality the Sun is much larger. The difference in their sizes can be shown visually. For example, take a large bouncy ball. Let it be the sun. Then the Earth looks like a small tennis ball. It is not so important how the ratio corresponds to reality. The main thing is that the child can imagine him at least approximately.
Step 5
You can arrange something like a planetarium. Take an unnecessary globe or even just an old plastic ball. Draw some constellations on it. Make small holes in place of the stars. Cut the bottom of the ball so that you can put it on, for example, on a table lamp without a lampshade. Better if you manage to fix such a demonstration globe on some kind of rotating stand. You can even just put the whole structure on the piano chair. By rotating the Universe, you can show your child how the position of the stars in the sky changes. The experiment is best done in a darkened room. If you sew a hemisphere from some dark material and attach it to the ceiling directly above the "globe", the picture will turn out to be even more realistic, almost like in a real planetarium.
Step 6
Many fairy tales and legends are associated with the stars. You will probably read some of them to your child, and he may ask - why did those people who wrote the fairy tale think that it was the ancient gods who fled to heaven? Why do you say that a star is a ball, but in a fairy tale it is written that a beautiful girl has turned into a star? Tell us that the ancient people had no telescopes, no computers, no cameras. Therefore, they only talked about what they see from the Earth. And they explained all the phenomena as they thought it was right, and so interesting fairy tales and beautiful legends turned out.
Step 7
Tell your child about the constellations. In fact, the stars in the same constellation are very far from each other. But from the Earth it seems that they are located very close. And it has always been that way, so even in ancient times, people decided to combine these stars into constellations and came up with a beautiful picture for each. Some constellations can be seen by the baby himself. Show him, for example, the Big Dipper.
Step 8
It is very good if you have a telescope at home or someone you know. Your child will surely enjoy looking at the stars. They will no longer seem so small. Tell him why all the objects in the sky appear larger when viewed through a telescope. There are devices that give a very high magnification, and in them you can see what is usually not visible.
Step 9
An inquisitive kid will certainly ask the question why the stars hang in the sky and do not fall. Explain that they are very heavy and are constantly attracted and repelled. The force of gravity can also be explained graphically. Rub the comb on something woolen and then bring it up to your hair. The child has probably already dealt with a magnet. Show that a magnet can not only attract objects, but also repel them. In Cosmos, forces of both attraction and repulsion act on each object. Each star is a huge magnet that attracts some objects and seeks to discard others. Therefore, the forces are balanced. If any connection is broken, the star can be carried away or burst. But at the same time, it will not reach the Earth, because the pieces along the way will attract other magnets.
