5 Things to Teach Your Kids About the Sun This Summer
Learn About the Sun
If you’ve got kids that are interested in celestial phenomena, the summer is the perfect time to teach them about the sun. Take your kids out with a pair of eclipse glasses and talk to them about some of the sun’s unique features, its relationship with the Earth, and what happens during solar eclipses. Wondering which facts to talk about? Here are our five favorite facts to help your kids learn about the sun! Check them out now and bond with your kids over cool science today!
1. The Sun Is A Star
Many adults don’t even know that the sun is a star! Make sure your child knows exactly what a star is and how the sun qualifies as one of these celestial bodies. While most of the stars your kids may be used to seeing light up the sky at night, the sun is much closer to us and provides us light during the day. One thing that’s important to learn about the sun is that it’s the star at the center of our solar system.
There are many different types of stars, including red giants, white dwarfs, red dwarfs, and supergiants. Our sun is a yellow dwarf star — pretty small in comparison to some of the others out there! As the sun gets older, around seven billion years from now, it will change into a red giant star, and several billion years later, collapse into a white dwarf. What a life cycle!
2. The Sun Supports All Life On Earth
The light and heat that our sun generates are what allows life on Earth to exist. We’re at the optimal distance to receive much of the benefits of the sun’s rays without too many of the negative side effects. Since animals and humans need oxygen to survive, we count on plants’ absorption of sunlight to create the perfect atmosphere for life! Once your kids learn this about the sun, they may be much more appreciative of the trees, grasses, and flowers around them!
Our distance from the sun really matters. While it might take eight minutes for the sun’s light to reach us, if we were any closer, like Mercury or Venus, our planet could reach up to 800 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s much too hot for any of us to survive. If we were a little further from the sun, like Mars or Jupiter, the temperature could drop to -80 degrees Fahrenheit. On Saturn, it gets as low as -285 degrees Fahrenheit!
3. The Sun & Gravity
Another thing to learn about the sun is how its mass and gravity affect our solar system. Everything orbits the sun because of its huge size. The magnetic field is what keeps each planet’s orbit where it is. The sun’s role in our lives is vitally important and anything that happens on its surface, like solar storms, could affect everyone on Earth.
4. The Sun Makes Rainbows
Everyone loves rainbows, and the sun is the key to creating them. When your kids learn about the sun’s role in creating these beautiful colors, they might get even more excited about this star. Use our suncatchers and decals to experiment with creating rainbows. You might even get to see a double rainbow if you angle your prismatic tools just right!
5. Solar Eclipses
As your kids start to understand how the planets, moons, and sun interact, you might want to introduce them to the idea of solar eclipses. When the moon passes in front of the sun, it covers it completely, casting a huge shadow on Earth. There are partial and total eclipses, as well as lunar eclipses and annular eclipses. Help them learn about the sun’s effects during each type of eclipse and take them with you when you go out for a viewing!
Sun Learning at Rainbow Symphony
Sun learning is fun, but you might encounter some questions that you didn’t expect. As your kids learn about the sun, be prepared to answer some wild questions! Let your little ones know that you don’t have all the answers, but that you can do some searches together to find them.
Ready to start exploring sun facts with your family? Use this guide as a resource to get started and find more interesting facts on our blog today!
