Activity
Different Seasons and the Tilt of the Earth
This hands-on science activity illustrates the tilt of the earth and the changing of the seasons.
By Shelly Hed, AmeriCorps Service Member
Background
Seasons changing? Perfect time to incorporate a lesson about the change of the seasons!
Materials
- Styrofoam balls
- Either popsicle sticks or Q-tips
- Glue
- Scissors
- Tactile stickers
Preparation
- If using popsicle sticks, line up the styrofoam balls and impale them on the sticks.
- If using the Q-tips, cut the stick in half and push them into opposite ends of the ball. Use glue if they don’t stick well.
- Using tactile stickers, mark the approximate location of your class on this model globe for a reference point.
Procedure
- Using the stick coming out of the globe as the north and south poles, orient the globe in the hands of your students, with the axis tilted approximately 23.5 degrees.
- Using their nondominant hand as the sun, have them maintain this tilt as they complete model rotations for the cycle of a day, noting where the tactile marker is on their globe.
- Here comes the fun part: modeling the different seasons! Moving the globe around the sun, notice if the marked point on the globe is tilting towards or away from the sun.
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