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Science

Day and Night

Overview

Children explore what is different about day and night and learn the simple reason why they happen.

Learning Objective
Children understand why we have day and night and can describe what changes between them.

Resources needed

  • A torch or sunlight
  • A ball or round fruit to represent Earth

Lesson stages

0 / 7 done
  1. 1 Ask: what is different about the day and the night?
  2. 2 List: light, dark, temperature, which animals are active, what people do.
  3. 3 Ask: why do you think it gets dark at night?
  4. 4 Demonstrate: use a ball as Earth and a torch as the Sun.
  5. 5 Shine the torch on one side — that side is day, the other is night.
  6. 6 Slowly rotate the ball — show how turning makes day become night.
  7. 7 Ask: does the Sun move, or does the Earth move? (Earth rotates).

Tap a step to mark it as done.

Variations

  • Mark a dot on the ball — follow it as the ball rotates from day to night.
  • Discuss what nocturnal animals do while we sleep.
  • Measure shadow length at different times of day.
More information

Teach: day, night, sunrise, sunset, rotate, Earth, Sun, shadow, dark, light. The torch-and-ball demonstration makes the abstract concept concrete.

Focus on the observable differences between day and night before introducing the rotation explanation.

Can children describe three differences between day and night? Can they explain simply that Earth rotating causes the change?

A fruit or ball and sunlight instead of a torch work equally well. No electricity needed.

Children almost universally believe the Sun moves across the sky and goes away at night. The Earth-rotation explanation is counterintuitive and needs the physical demonstration to make sense.

Day and night is one of the most important early astronomy concepts. Establishing that Earth rotates corrects a deeply held intuitive misconception.

Activity details
Early Years Easy 15–20 minutes no prep Whole Class Indoor & Outdoor
Topics
Day And Night Earth And Space Patterns