Generally kids are curious to learn about new things they come across. Their interest keeps changing according to the surroundings. So it is very important for parents to expose them to right things and create opportunities in that direction to help them build inquisitiveness.
Young Children need opportunities to practise feeling wonder to develop Curious Minds ~ Source Internet
Our almost 6 year old(then) used to talk about sky, stars, becoming space scientist and an astronaut! We thought of gifting her the experience of planetarium, on the occasion of her 6th birthday. But somehow, that plan didn’t materialize. After that, every time we book the tickets, we had to cancel it for one or the other reasons.
So, we were looking for different options to keep her interest for sky, stars and space alive. This article is to share about those trials and thoughts!
If you are also looking to develop space interest in your child, below points may come in handy. Please read on….
- Watching the night sky. In the Sky has some useful information on this, it also provides sky chart which helps to identify what is what on the sky.
- Plan for a visit to nearby Planetarium and keep checking their website for space related events for kids.
- Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium Bengaluru has started a new program called “Sky This Week” to give information about celestial objects and they are also uploading recorded video every week in their website and YouTube channel. Awesome!
- YouTube has many videos about space and stars. We loved watching space related videos from Peekaboo Kids and SciShow Kids.
- You can explore NASA Kids Club website for grade appropriate games, activities, videos and programs.
- Involving the child while watching the live coverage of eclipses, rocket launches and space events on the television. You can start with the upcoming Solar Eclipse on 21st June 2020.
- Recently we heard about some of the free apps like Skyview, Star walk, etc. We are yet to explore that!
- You can also look for Sky Gazing events happening near your area and help your child/children benefit from that.
- Another interesting news is ISRO has come up with a program for 9th grade students called “Young Scientist Program (Yuvika)”. If you have budding scientist/s at home, keep checking their website for the details.
Image Credit – Maël BALLAND from Pexels
