Tuesday, 18 January 2011

Making Craters

This week we are learning about the planet Mercury. For our science experiment yesterday we made craters. I found two different experiments that we tried. First came from a library book we checked out title Mercury by Steven Kipp


First fill a basin with mud or clay












Give the children different size stones or mud balls and have them throw them into the basin. My kids were very timid with this so....









We let Daddy have a go. He made the best crater:)







Remove stones and examine your newly made craters and observed the changes in the mud/clay.






The next experiment we tried was from the book Solar System by Janice VanCleave's.
In this experiment we were trying to see how to measure the depths of a crater. I will have to try my best to describe this as only a few pictures were taken in our excitement of making craters:)

Fill a flat bottom bowl with cornmeal or sand. Place a flat side toothpick
into the sand and use a marker to measure how far the sand comes up the toothpick.
Next drop in marbles or stones into the sand at varying heights (we used a ruler) take the same toothpick as before and place into the middle of one crater and mark where the sand is. There should be difference in the marks and we discuss why.





Daddy having a go in trying to get a meteor to skip on the sand.







After wards we went to the internet and found this site that does computer simulated asteroid hits on earth and what the damage might be.

We had a great time with these experiments and it was nice to have Daddy home to help us:)
Posted by The Adventurer at 09:07
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12 comments:

  1. Hen Jen18 January 2011 at 09:51

    what a neat unit study! I am about to order an astronomy curriculum to do with my youngest 3- you've given me some ideas, thanks!

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  2. Rebecca18 January 2011 at 11:33

    That is awesome! I can't wait to dive into astronomy with my children....and this looks like so much fun. Dropping in and following from the Hip Homeschool Hop!

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  3. Anonymous18 January 2011 at 11:44

    Great idea! I'm glad to see this post. We are going to be starting planets very soon, too! Following from the HHH.

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  4. 1grown2togo18 January 2011 at 19:16

    I always love doing experiments with my children~~Great blog..Following you from Tuesday Blog Trail via emails & GFC~~Shari

    http://www.1grown2togo.blogspot.com

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  5. Unknown18 January 2011 at 20:43

    How hard is it to homeschool?? I'm rather tired of the learning my children are getting at school and the bullying of other children is freaking me out...I'm SERIOUSLY considering homeschool but fear holds me back...how does one take that first step?? Thanx for your post...I quite enjoyed it!

    GFC following from the Tuesday Blog Trail...ifn you have a moment, please stop by my place and have a look around ~ Mad Moose Mama ~ http://www.madmoosemama.blogspot.com ~ Have a most groovy of days...peaces...xoxo

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  6. The Adventurer18 January 2011 at 22:57

    Hi Hen Jen,
    Thanks for stopping by and commenting. We are really enjoying our solar system studies.

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  7. The Adventurer18 January 2011 at 22:58

    Hi Rebecca,
    Thanks for commenting and visiting. There is so much information on the solar system have fun learning with your kids.

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  8. The Adventurer18 January 2011 at 22:59

    Hi Heavensent1, 1grown2togo, and live,love and educate - thanks for following and I am following back:)

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  9. Unknown18 January 2011 at 23:16

    Great post Anna-Marie! It is always nice to see dad involved. He looked to be having all the fun. lol You are doing some really interesting and creative things with this unit study.

    I voted for you!

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  10. The Adventurer19 January 2011 at 14:42

    Thanks Lynda
    It was nice having my husband home for the school day and he got to see what it is I do with the children:)

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  11. asliceofsmithlife20 January 2011 at 03:15

    Wonderful post Anna-Marie!
    I sometimes save science experiments (the few that I do with my kids) for evening when my husband is home so he can join in and help out and so I can take pictures :) It looks like you are having fun with your astronomy unit. I will have to refer back to your posts whenever I teach astronomy to my kids. :)

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  12. Maureensk22 January 2011 at 08:07

    This is a great experiment! I'll have to try it sometime soon!

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