Boo and Skibo are studying space this semester at the Montessori school, and so we are doing what we can to encourage their interests in the stars, the planets and the sky in general. Boo is already asking for a telescope for her birthday -- we had been thinking for a while of getting one, though it may have to wait for Christmas so that it can be a joint gift instead of just hers -- however the other day in Target I noticed that they had a planetarium-in-a-box for twenty or thirty bucks, and decided it was time to try this out --- it's endorsed by the National Geographical Society, so it must be good, right?
Other than the fact that it needed 5 AAA batteries and all we had on hand were 30 AA batteries, so a trip to the gas station a block up the street was necessary, it worked. I won't say that it worked wonderfully well yet: the stars were a bit blurry, and the words were illegible for me. But at least it put the constellations up in the sky above us on the ceiling: and it comes with at 45 minute cd guided tour of the sky --- which we will listen to as soon as we can get the children ready for bed early enough -- or more likely once dark comes earlier in the evening!
Still, we are excited to show them how to find star constellations (and to tell them the myths behind the names!) and the planets!
Yours, in astral projection,
N.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Have you heard of the Google Sky part of Google Earth? I haven't tried it, but it sounds like just something your kids will enjoy - while they are waiting on that telescope.
No, I hadn't! Thanks for that -- I'll check it out!
N.
You're taking me back to the days of elementary school. My district had an inflatable planetarium that traveled from school to school. We had to crawl through a tunnel to get into it. Super-cool.
We had one of those projectors... they were GREAT... always livened up the discussions etc. We did have a telescope given to us, but it never worked properly. My back deck is perfect for star gazing ... I must do something about obtaining a new one.
Hope they LOVE their new space adventure.
A planetarium in a box sounds like a great thing to have - even for an adult, like me.
Michele sent me tonight.
Post a Comment