A little Earth Focus
On February 7th, I enjoyed doing a little Solar System workshop for young Beaver scouts and their leaders. These children are only aged 6 to 8, so I had a plan to get them engaged and thinking. A little Earth focus would do just fine. Usually, in solar system presentations, there is wonder and awe about the planets with which we share our sun. Yes, I included splashes of that story. The beauty of those planets and their moons. The spacecraft that are on the surface, in orbit and on the way.
However, I realised that Earth is not always as prominent as it should be. I tried to focus on the fact that we humans live in space. We go to school, work, or play simultaneously while living in space. We don’t have to put on spacesuits to do anything. Our planet provides us with the air we breathe, the food we need, and the water we drink for our entire lives. A little Earth focus was beginning to take hold.
Duty of care
Therefore, our duty in life should always be to take care of our Earth and our home in space. I informed them that when we look up at a starry sky, it’s a good idea to remember that we are fortunate to have a transparent atmosphere. We can see space and other parts of our solar system and galaxy. We can see the Space Station with people inside orbiting our planet. Standing in our gardens or fields, we cruise along, needing no protection bar our atmosphere. It’s best to keep things small so as not to overload little heads. So, bring things back to doable tasks. So looking after our gardens or flower pots is enough to help our planet in an easy way.
Draw the Earth
The drawing challenge of this workshop is to draw the Earth. Then, add a sentence, a few words, or a symbol to the page showing why they love it or any opinions they want to express. I drew the Earth, and the children followed, except for one enthusiastic boy who galloped ahead, drawing all the countries he knew before adding the seas.
To keep things manageable, we coloured a circle in blue. I have little transparent circles that help create the perfect shape. The north and south poles were added in white. Then we included Ireland and the UK as we are side by side. We pretended that it was cloudy all over the rest of the world. This removed the complexity of drawing all the countries surrounding us. Clouds were generously and swiftly dispersed all over the world with white pastels.
Writing skills were mixed, but they all made a great effort and were proud of their work. The drawing above is about the most legible regarding the writing. Others included the names of their cats and dogs as the reason they loved Earth. Several included the words nature, animals, and love hearts appeared in most of the drawings. Another child wrote, “I love what it’s providing, food for all of us and beautiful things.” Very profound for a small boy.
Elvis
When I showed them the planet Mercury, they were highly amused that a few craters looked like Micky Mouse. I duly let them know that some craters on Mercury are named after famous classical musicians. I asked if anyone could name one of these music makers. A chorus of little voices called out Taylor Swift. No, I said much further back and famous. Elvis came out of one child’s mouth. Everyone in the hall laughed; it was a lovely, funny moment. The group had not as yet heard of Beethoven or Mozart. These children had some beautiful discoveries ahead of them.
As a little reward for their good work, I let the kids play with my massive blow-up Earthball. The energy in the hall exploded in happiness. Meanwhile, some leaders helped me get my telescope (8-inch Dob) out of the car and into an area with a good view of the moon and Jupiter. We were so lucky to have a clear night. All the Beavers and some of the older scouts saw a crispy clear moon. After, they lined up to look at Jupiter and the four Galilean moons. The leaders, children, and parents were overjoyed as they had never seen these objects closely or seen a telescope like mine before. Everyone went home with flower seeds to plant to look after their patch of Earth in some small way.
