Formation of the Universe Activities for Kids

Week 7: We watched a video explaining the creation of the universe, found spirals in our world, and painted galaxies.

Teaching the formation of the universe is a highly personal topic. While some choose to teach creation of the universe from a biblical perspective, I have chosen to teach this subject from a scientific perspective. Although some of the lesson directly aligns with science, much of the material and activities should be useful to lessons based on other views.

Watching the National Geographic Despite video Birth of the Universe we learned the universe was once so small it could be held in the hand, but the same weight it is today. Elements are created in the stars when particles crash together during nuclear fusion reactions. Amazingly, some university scientists have built a machine which can replicate parts of nuclear fusion. Despite the fact that the National Geographic video was a challenge to understand, it was useful in our overall understanding of the universe.

Since much of the matter in the universe is spinning and shaped like a spiral, we found and discussed spirals familiar to us.

List of Familiar Spirals
Snail Shells
Whirl Pools
River water flowing around obstacles
Horns of big horn sheep
Water flowing down the drain and toilet

Inspired by the galaxies on The Art Club Blog, we created our own.

Using watercolor paper, blue, black white and a little red or yellow paint, the galaxy backgrounds were created.

Each background was unique, but they all contained spirals.

The fun part was painting the stars by splattering different colors of paint onto the paper.

Please be sure to visit next week for a Life Cycle of the Stars activity.

This post is linked to: 
True Aim Education