Hands-on Activities

These hands-on activities are designed to encourage children to find out about different aspects of Earth and beyond.

Each Activity Sheet is designed to print out onto an A4 sheet of paper.

(N.B. - if your printout does not fit onto a single sheet of A4 paper try adjusting the font in your browser's preferences file or reduce the scale in your printer-driver software.)

1. The Solar System

Print out the Solar System activity sheet.

Can you identify each of the Nine Planets in our Solar System?

Use the Links page to find the information.

Print out the Word Search activity sheet.

Can you find 20 words connected with Earth and beyond?

Use the Links page to find other places on the World Wide Web where the words are used.

Print out the Changing Moon activity sheet.

The part of the moon which we see changes its shape each night. Watch the moon for seven nights or more. Find the picture which looks most like the Moon each night. Write the date next to that picture.

Use the Links page to find out why the Moon's shape changes.

Print out the Space Exploration Time Line activity sheet.

Can you place the people and events in the right place on a time line?

Use the Links page to find other places on the World Wide Web which can tell you about space exploration.

Print out the Planets Database activity sheet.

Use the table to record facts about the planets of our Solar System. (If you have a spreadsheet or a database program you could use it to record the facts on a computer).

Use the Links page to find out facts about the planets.

Print out the Measuring Shadows activity sheet.

As the Earth turns, the Sun seems to move across the sky and shadows get longer or shorter.

Push a stick into the ground in the morning and measure the length of its shadow every hour. Use the table to record the lengths of the shadows.

Use the Links page to find out more about how the Earth turns.

Print out the Earth and beyond picture quiz.

Can you find out what they are?

Use the Links page to find other places on the World Wide Web where their pictures can be found.

Print out the Gravity activity sheet.

Gravity is different on different planets and Moons in the Solar System. You can use a spreadsheet to calculate how your weight would change on different planets.

Use the Links page to find other places on the World Wide Web to find information about gravity.

Print out the Moon Map activity sheet.

Astronomers have been observing the Moon for hundreds of years. They used to think that the darker areas were seas and gave them all names.

Can you find out the names of the different areas of the Moon?

Use the Links page to find out what the parts of the Moon are called.