Eclipses

Two weeks ago, we had an we experiment about the two types of eclipses which are the Solar eclipse and the Lunar eclipse. We used two different size balls to represent the Moon and the Earth and a flashlight to represent the Sun. We also prepared a work sheet that they have to fill up after the experiment. 

The experiment was done in a dark room with a group of four or five kids. The setting of the experiment was important so we used blankets to cover the windows to make the room dark. We first explained that the small ball is the moon, the larger ball is the Earth and the flashlight is the Sun. Then we moved on to make one kid be the Sun by holding the flashlight while two more became the moon and the earth. After that, we asked the kid who is the sun to shine the spotlight on the moon (small ball) while standing in front of the Earth (big ball) and ask the other kids to observe where the shadow of the Moon is on the Earth. This is the Solar Eclipse. The we asked the moon and the Earth to switch places and explained that this is known as the Lunar eclipse. 

After the experiment is done, the group is moved to the next room as the next group does the experiment. The finished group will then answer some simple question about the experiment that they has just done on a worksheet. For example, when does the solar eclipse happen? The worksheet is just a method to strengthen their understanding and memory about the experiment.