It’s the crazy irony of modern Astronomy: While we’re seeing more and more amazing pictures from space telescopes, we have less and less connection with the night sky in our daily lives. Since we’re surrounded by constant outdoor lighting, the constellations are no longer familiar patterns, but have become something we learn about in books or on the Internet.

Astronomers have been making an effort to rebuild the connection — especially for kids — that these gorgeous astronomy pictures you see on the Internet are just more detailed images of things that you can see yourself with your own eyes. During the “100 Hours of Astronomy” (which I wrote about here), my kids and I got to see Saturn through a telescope for the first time! And, let me tell you, it’s an exciting experience to look at a dot of light in the sky, learn that it’s actually Saturn, and then see with your own eyes (through a telescope) that it really has rings, just like the pictures! Ditto for seeing the details of the moon (which we also saw that day), and seeing the moons and surface stripes of Jupiter (which we saw at a recent public observing at Princeton University)!!

But what about kids and parents who aren’t aware of such opportunities? Who might be inspired by seeing the planets through a telescope, but just haven’t thought of it? Well, that’s where Halloween comes in!! » Continue reading “Best Halloween Idea Ever!”

So cute, but who would buy their baby the red shirt?

Star Trek Onesies

TechSkeptic over at Effort Sisyphus blog has a very funny blog post up in which he suggests that vaccinations are an uncelebrated rite of passage that should be celebrated. He lists several of the milestones, and appropriate ways to celebrate each. Go read it right now, I’ll wait!

A large bell, canon, or gong is sounded and the all the guests cheer: “Chigee Chigge Chee! Hize Hize Hize! [child's name] is now immunized!”

A good time is had by all.

OK, are you back? I would like to add to his post that most children (should) get a round of shots at the age of 11-12, which include the Tdap (Diptheria, Tetanus, Pertussis) and the MCV4 (Meningococcal) vaccines. I suggest this could be a chance for parents to celebrate their child’s impending teen years. A child’s “Tweenitiation” is a time for parents to sit down with their child and explain that they will soon change from the sweet, happy child of their past into a moody, gangly, pimply mound of hormones. But it is important for the child to understand that, while this happens after the vaccination is administered, it is not caused by the vaccination. This is a great opportunity to teach children about the difference between correlation and causation! Perfect gifts for a child at his/her Tweenitiation include “The Demon-Haunted World”, “Why People Believe Weird Things”, and “Flim-Flam!”.

Tux Paint is my favorite free educational software application for kids. It’s not going to teach your kids science (like the astronomy software I reviewed), but rather it provides a blank canvas with some pretty amazing tools they can use to express their own creativity.

Planets and their cores, by Nico, age 7 » Continue reading “Tux Paint!”

Want!!

Rational parents, this is an event not to be missed, especially if your kids love astronomy, like mine do! Astronomers around the world have been organizing 100 hours of astronomy activities for the public! And if you’ve missed the beginning, it’s not quite done yet — you can still join in the fun tonight (look here for activities in your area).

Friday night I got to see the rings of Saturn with my own eyes for the first time. OK, so the light was bent a little by some mirrors and lenses, but it’s still cool that your can see a speck of light in the sky, and if someone points a big enough telescope at it, you can see that it really does have rings, just like in all the pictures! And that’s not all.

» Continue reading “100 Hours of Astronomy!”

This was suggested by Nicolas, age 7:

1. Make a snowball.
2. Throw the snowball so hard that is leaves the Earth’s atmosphere and orbits the Sun!

And here’s the variant suggested by his little brother Léo, age 5:

1. A comet is a dirty snowball, so find some very dirty snow to make a snowball.
2. Go on a spaceship to the Oort cloud
3. Open the door of the spaceship and put the snowball with the other comets.

Note: I’d never even heard of the “Oort Cloud” until these kids started watching astronomy videos on YouTube. I thought they were saying “Earth Cloud” until it looked it up on Wikipedia…

As much fun as it is to take the whole family on an astronomy outing, it’s easy to find fun astronomy tools at home, too — for free on the Internet! Today my kids would like to recommend to you some of their favorites. To give credit where credit is due, my husband found all of these free software programs and videos, but I helped the kids watch, discuss, and play with them.

First up: Celestia: a 3-D space exploration simulator that you can download free.

Nico took all the screenshots himself — as we saw in love of learning and LSG’s adventures, kids learn by example and often take an interest in activities their parents enjoy! In my case — through my hobby of writing illustrated articles — I’ve inadvertently taught them to enjoy taking screenshots to post. » Continue reading “More kids’ astronomy fun with free stuff on the Internet!”