Author: Cindi Lou Grant
Hero: Nature skills that will make you, your child’s hero.
Explore The Night Sky With This Classic Nursery Rhyme
Have you and your kids made time to really experience the wonder of the night sky? Our night skies are becoming harder to see with the artificial “daytime” that we humans have constructed to combat the darkness. Bedtime aside, summer is the perfect opportunity to get away from the city lights and explore the stars.
One of my most recollected childhood rhymes is Mother Goose's "hey, diddle, diddle," but I recently learned that it is an awesome way to teach kids about constellations. We can use this simple rhyme to orient kids to the natural wonder of stars.
"Hey, Diddle, Diddle," By: Mother Goose (1765)
The rhyme relates to constellations and their relative positions around the early summer moon:
In early summer, a number of constellations seem close to the moon: Leo(the cat); Lyra (the fiddle);Taurus (the cow);Canis Minor (the little dog); Crater (the dish), and Ursa Major (the spoon).
If you can get far enough away from city lights, the sky is absolutely covered with stars. I want say “millions of them,” but we can actually see about 5,000 with the naked eye. What kids and adults alike may really find fascinating is that not all of these objects are stars. Some are complete galaxies (akin to our own Milky Way, which is a magnificent splendor in itself), each with its own set of millions of stars. Suddenly, we all feel very small. So take some time with your children to explore the magnificent night sky a little closer.
Fostering that sense of wonderment that comes so organically in kids, is our mission at Sawyer and we hope they take these skills into a life full of exploring. Give it a try and when your done, let us know what your kids thought with the share button below.