- Straight stick about two feet long
- small rocks or small seashells
- a watch
- chalk (optional)
- Sand (optional)
- Bucket (optional)
- Find a sunny spot and push the stick vertically straight into the grass or earth. If your backyard doesn’t have any grass or earth, fill a small bucket with sand and place your stick into the bucket.
- Start in the morning when the sun is up. At 7:00 am use a small rock or seashell to mark where the shadow of your stick falls. Come back at 8:00am, 9:00am, 10:00am, and so on until there is no more daylight in the day. You may want to mark your pebbles with the time they were placed using chalk.
- By the end of the day your sundial will be complete.
How it Works:
The sun’s light will make your long stick cast a shadow. The shadow will change it’s angle depending how the sun’s light is hitting the stick because our earth is constantly rotating and revolving around the sun.
- Measure how long the shadow that is casted by the stick is. Measure it in winter and spring. Are the measurements differnt? Which season has the longer shadow?
- Make a second sun dial after we reset our clocks each year. How are the two sundials similar? How are they different?