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Edible Model of the Sun
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In this activity, learners make "solar cookies," edible models of the Sun's outer layers using sugar cookies and toppings.
Finding the Right Crater
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This quick demonstration (on page 11 of PDF) allows learners to understand why scientists think water ice could remain frozen in always-dark craters at the poles of the Moon.
Morning Star and Evening Star
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This demonstration activity models how Venus appears from Earth.
Exploring the Solar System: Stomp Rockets
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In "Exploring the Solar System: Stomp Rockets," participants learn about how some rockets carry science tools—not scientists—into space, and how a special kind of rocket called "sounding rockets" can
Cook Up a Comet
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In this activity (on page 5 of PDF), learners use dry ice and household materials to make scientifically accurate models of comets.
Modeling the Night Sky
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In this two-part activity, learners explore the Earth and Sun's positions in relation to the constellations of the ecliptic with a small model.
Exploring the Universe: Static Electricity
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This activity encourages visitors to build an electroscope—a simplified version of one of the tools scientists use to study the invisible forces on Earth and in space.
Exploring the Universe: Objects in Motion
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"Exploring the Universe: Objects in Motion" encourages participants to explore the complex but predictable ways objects in the universe interact with each other.
Exploring the Solar System: Moonquakes
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In this activity, learners sort different natural phenomena into categories (they occur on Earth, on the Moon, or on both), and then model how energy moves during a quake using spring toys.
The Size and Distance of the Planets
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In this activity, learners investigate the concepts of relative size and distance by creating a basic model of the solar system.
Make a Comet Model and Eat It!
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In this activity, learners build models of comets, using edible materials, to learn about comets' structure.
Moonlight Serenade
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In this activity, learners act as the Earth and observe how different angles between the Sun, Earth, and Moon affect the phases of the moon we see each month.
Toilet Paper Solar System
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In this activity, learners build a scale model of the solar system using a roll of toilet paper.
The Thousand-Yard Model
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This is a classic exercise for visualizing the scale of the Solar System.
Does the Moon Rotate?
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This fun and simple hands-on astronomy activity lets learners make 3-dimensional models of the Earth and Moon.
Sun Cookies
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In this activity, learners use candy pieces and a cookie to make an accurate model of the Sun they can eat. Parts of the delicious model include solar granules, sunspots, and solar prominences.
Exploring the Universe: Nebula Spin Art
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In this activity, participants will learn about how gigantic clouds of gas and dust in space, called nebulas, are formed. They'll create their own colorful model nebula using paint and a spinner.
Oreo Phases
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In this activity, learners recreate the lunar phases using the frosting from Oreo® cookies and place the phases in order. Round cream cheese crackers can also be used if cookies are not an option.
Exploring the Solar System: Magnetic Fields
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The "Exploring the Solar System: Magnetic Fields" activity shows participants how scientists can use tools to study the invisible magnetic fields of Earth, the Sun, and other objects in the universe.
Exploring the Universe: Star Formation
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In this activity, participants will learn how stars form from the dust and gas that exists in space clumping together.