Space Month: August
August's four space missions, one a week, made from things you already have at home. Do one, tap "I did it!", and a badge goes in your Sky Book.
Week 1: Count shooting stars
You need: the shower night kit, printed, a blanket or a reclining chair, warm clothes, a pencil.
- Check Peabody's shower calendar for the next good meteor shower night.
- Lie back with a grown-up somewhere dark, and look at the biggest patch of sky you can see.
- Make a mark for every shooting star in each ten minutes. Note the brightest one.
Why it works: Shooting stars are bits of dust, smaller than a grain of sand, burning up as they hit our air very fast. On a shower night, Earth passes through a comet's trail of dust.
Week 2: Make a red stargazing light
You need: a flashlight, red cellophane, a red balloon or red paper, a rubber band.
- Cover the front of the flashlight with two or three layers of red.
- Hold it on with the rubber band.
- Outside, after ten minutes in the dark, read a page with the red light. Then flash a white light for a second and see how many stars disappear.
Why it works: Your eyes take about twenty minutes to get used to the dark. Red light doesn't undo that much; white light undoes it in a second.
Little ones: Balloons and rubber bands are small parts: a grown-up puts the cover on.
Week 3: Make a star pattern projector
You need: a paper cup, a pin, a small flashlight, a dark room.
- Pick a star pattern on Peabody and copy its dots onto the bottom of the cup, as you see them in the drawing.
- ✂️ Grown-up step: Poke a hole at each dot.
- In a dark room, shine the flashlight into the cup and point the bottom at the ceiling. Your star pattern shines over your bed.
- Turn the cup over: the pattern flips. That's why you face the right way to find it in the sky.
Why it works: Star patterns are shapes people see in stars that are very far apart. Learning one indoors makes it much easier to find outside.
Little ones: The pin is a grown-up's job.
Week 4: Line up the planets as fruit
You need: fruit and seeds from the kitchen: a big melon, a grapefruit, two oranges or apples, two plums, a peppercorn or pea, two blueberries, a table.
- Open Planets at true scale and look at how big each planet is next to the others.
- Pick a fruit or seed for each planet so the sizes match as well as you can (Jupiter biggest, then Saturn).
- Line them up in order from the Sun. Then eat Mercury.
Why it works: Jupiter is about eleven Earths wide; Mercury is less than half an Earth. Matching them with food makes the sizes stick.
Little ones: Peppercorns, peas and blueberries are choking-sized for under-fives: use big fruit pieces only.
Week 1: Count shooting stars
You need: the shower night kit, printed, a blanket or a reclining chair, warm clothes, a pencil.
- Check Peabody's shower calendar for the next good meteor shower night.
- Lie back with a grown-up somewhere dark, and look at the biggest patch of sky you can see.
- Make a mark for every shooting star in each ten minutes. Note the brightest one.
Why it works: Shooting stars are bits of dust, smaller than a grain of sand, burning up as they hit our air very fast. On a shower night, Earth passes through a comet's trail of dust.
Done it? Date: ____________ Tick for your Sky Book: ☐
More at peabody.kids/space/showers
Week 2: Make a red stargazing light
You need: a flashlight, red cellophane, a red balloon or red paper, a rubber band.
- Cover the front of the flashlight with two or three layers of red.
- Hold it on with the rubber band.
- Outside, after ten minutes in the dark, read a page with the red light. Then flash a white light for a second and see how many stars disappear.
Why it works: Your eyes take about twenty minutes to get used to the dark. Red light doesn't undo that much; white light undoes it in a second.
Little ones: Balloons and rubber bands are small parts: a grown-up puts the cover on.
Done it? Date: ____________ Tick for your Sky Book: ☐
More at peabody.kids/space/sky
Week 3: Make a star pattern projector
You need: a paper cup, a pin, a small flashlight, a dark room.
- Pick a star pattern on Peabody and copy its dots onto the bottom of the cup, as you see them in the drawing.
- ✂️ Grown-up step: Poke a hole at each dot.
- In a dark room, shine the flashlight into the cup and point the bottom at the ceiling. Your star pattern shines over your bed.
- Turn the cup over: the pattern flips. That's why you face the right way to find it in the sky.
Why it works: Star patterns are shapes people see in stars that are very far apart. Learning one indoors makes it much easier to find outside.
Little ones: The pin is a grown-up's job.
Done it? Date: ____________ Tick for your Sky Book: ☐
More at peabody.kids/space/sky/stars
Week 4: Line up the planets as fruit
You need: fruit and seeds from the kitchen: a big melon, a grapefruit, two oranges or apples, two plums, a peppercorn or pea, two blueberries, a table.
- Open Planets at true scale and look at how big each planet is next to the others.
- Pick a fruit or seed for each planet so the sizes match as well as you can (Jupiter biggest, then Saturn).
- Line them up in order from the Sun. Then eat Mercury.
Why it works: Jupiter is about eleven Earths wide; Mercury is less than half an Earth. Matching them with food makes the sizes stick.
Little ones: Peppercorns, peas and blueberries are choking-sized for under-fives: use big fruit pieces only.
Done it? Date: ____________ Tick for your Sky Book: ☐
More at peabody.kids/space/planets-to-scale
Every month
“One small mission a week. By the end of the month you'll know more about space than most grown-ups.”