Making scale and not to scale models in Year 5

Today, our budding scientists stepped out of the classroom and into the cosmos to tackle two big questions: How big is the space between us and the Sun? and How do the Earth and Moon actually move?

Our first challenge was to understand the staggering distance between the Earth and the Sun. To do this, we took our learning outside to the playground.

To make an accurate scale model, we used:

• A Football: Representing the massive Sun.

• A 2mm Blue Tac Ball: Representing our tiny Earth.

• Trundle Wheels: To measure the distance.

The children were amazed to find that if the Sun were the size of a football, they had to use their trundle wheels to walk 23 meters away just to place their tiny Blue Tac Earth! Standing that far back and looking at the football really drove home how much "empty space" there is in our solar system.

'It was fun learning about the Earth, sun and moon because we went outside and we compared a football with a 2mm ball of blue tac. The Earth is extremely small when you compare it to the sun!' - Oscar

After stretching our legs (and our minds) outside, we headed back into the classroom to look at movement. While our first model was "to scale," our second model was all about the mechanics of an orbit.

Using paper, scissors, and split pins, the children created moving diagrams to demonstrate two key movements:

1. The Earth orbiting the Sun: One full revolution taking 365 days.

2. The Moon orbiting the Earth: A much quicker journey taking about 28 days.

While these models weren't to scale (the Moon would have been a microscopic speck!), they were perfect for showing how the three celestial bodies interact without crashing into one another!

'I have learned that Earth orbits the sun.' - Emanuella 

'The Earth orbits the sun and the moon orbits the Earth but they never touch.' - Elodie 

It was a fantastic afternoon of hands-on science. The children showed great teamwork—especially when measuring those long distances—and asked some brilliant questions about what lies beyond our own orbit.