Earth & Sky

Level: Brownies

Girls will earn the Earth & Sky Try-It after completing all of the activities.

Who knows where we are? Beyond Girl Scouts, where are we? What planet do we live on? That’s right, Earth! Earth is the third planet from the sun and the fifth largest planet with 71% of the Earth being water. Today we are going to earn the Earth & Sky Try-It and learn more about this planet we live on.

The sun gives off heat and light. The sun can do many good things, like make plants and crops grow, and provide us warm days to go outside. However, the sun can do harm too, such as causing a sunburn.

What you’ll need:

• Thermometers

• Dark cups

• Plastic Wrap

• Water

Lets go outside and see if the sun is out. Everyone touch a different object either in the sun or in the shade. Is it hot, cold, warm? Take your thermometers and see if you can measure the air temperature. (If it is sunny, have them do this in the shade and sun).

Does any one know what evaporation is? When the sun gives off heat, water is turned into water vapor. The heat makes the water vapor rise in the air. Let’s do an experiment to see this. Take you dark colored cup, and fill it half-full with water. Take the temperature of the water. Stretch some plastic wrap tightly over the top. Place the cup in the sun. We will go finish the rest of our experiments and come back to our cups.

Who knows what a cloud is made of? That’s right, water! The water in clouds comes from water vapor in the air. Water vapor is tiny drops of water in the air that you can’t see. It doesn’t take all that much water to make a cloud. In fact, a small cloud like the size of the conference room at the Service Center might only contain one gallon of water!

The shapes of clouds have fascinated people for thousands of years. The fascinating thing about clouds is the way they are always changing. But clouds look different for a reason. In fact, being able to identify the many different kinds of clouds help people to understand and predict the weather! I am going to show you some pictures of clouds that cloud-watchers believe look like certain things. Let’s take a look to see what we think they look like. (Show them cloud pictures, encourage participation and imagination, tell them what they have been identified as fish, rabbit, etc.)

Now let’s go outside and look at the clouds in the sky today. Let’s see what type of clouds we can see. (Take the group outside and have them sit on the picnic benches or ground. Let them look in the sky for shapes, animals, people, or objects. Have them announce when they see something. If they have trouble getting started, start them out by pointing at a cloud and asking them what they see.) Now let’s go inside and make our own clouds!

(No Clouds?)
I don’t see any clouds today, do you? Does anyone know why? That is because there is no water in the sky. That is good for us because it means that it is not going to rain. Let’s go inside and make our own clouds instead!

The clouds must be full of water today! Since it is poor weather today, we can’t go outside to look at clouds, so let’s make our own clouds instead!

What you’ll need:

• Construction Paper, 1 per girl

• Cotton Balls, small handful per girl

• Glue, 1 bottle per 2 girls

• Crayons

1. Let the girls pick out their "sky" with their construction paper.

2. Give each girl a handful of cotton balls

3. Let the girls glue their "clouds" onto their "sky" in any shape they want.

4. They can use their crayons to draw things in their sky, like birds, planes, rain, or sun.

5. Have them write their name on their picture and hang them on the corkboard to dry.

In a little bit, we are going outside to look at the earth. What are some things you think we may find on the ground? When you’re outside you can find many kinds of rocks. Some rocks, like sedimentary rocks, are formed by mud, sand and other things. Each of you are going to be able to make your very own sedimentary rock!

What you’ll need:

1. Prepare the Plaster of Paris with the water in the cup. Make ½ cup for each girl.

2. Stir the pebble mixture into the plaster in the cup.

3. Put aside until end of session (approximately 1 hour). After the plaster mix has dried, peel away the paper cup. What is left is a sedimentary rock for them to keep.

We have observed the sky above, now let’s explore the earth below. Let’s go outside to examine the Earth and all that lives here.

What you’ll need:

1. Divide the girls into pairs. Take each pair to a place close to your meeting spot. Keep the pairs fairly close together so you can still lead a discussion with the group. Lay their string in a circle on the ground. Tell them this is their discovery circle.

2. Have the girls look inside their discovery circle and report what they see. Are there plants, animals, insects, flowers, etc? Let them share their findings with the group and let girls look at other group’s discovery circles if interesting discoveries are made. Ask them to feel the ground with their hands. Is the surface warm or cool?

3. Now give each pair a small spade to dig with. Have them carefully dig a small hole about 1" deep (show them with your hands how deep) and examine the soil. Ask them: what color is it? How does it feel? Is it warm or cool?

4. Now have them dig deeper, first 3" deep. Ask similar questions. Have them make comparisons to the 1" hole answers. Is it cooler here or warmer here? How does the color differ?

5. Next have them dig deeper, 6" deep. Repeat questions and comparisons.

6. Have them fill in their holes carefully. Remember to leave your circle the way you found it. Let them return their "tools" (string, magnifying glass, & spade). Ask girls to collect a small amount of tiny twigs, grass, and leaves for our next experiment.

Who knows what erosion is? Erosion is the wearing away of soil and landscape due to rain and weather damage. Let’s do a little experiment to see how we can prevent erosion from ruining our landscapes.

What you’ll need:

1. Place a shallow baking pan on a table.

2. Use play dough to position two pans so that they are raised about 2 inches at one end, with their other ends resting inside the pan on the table as in the diagram.

3. Spread one cup of soil across the top section of the pans.

4. Cover the soil on one of the pans with the mixture of grass, leaves, and tiny twigs.

5. Hold a tilted glass full of water above the uncovered soil and allow the water to slowly pour onto the soil.

6. Repeat the procedure on the covered soil.

7. Compare the amount of soil collected at the bottom of each elevated pan.

Where is there more soil? That’s right, on the uncovered side. Why? Unprotected soil dissolves in the flowing water and moves down the pan. In nature, leaves, grass, rocks, and small twigs provide a protective covering. This covering holds the soil in place and soaks up water that might wash away the soil. Plants that grow in the soil provide even more protection because their roots help hold the soil in place. The washing away of this soil is called erosion. So how can we help to prevent erosion? (plant grass, flowers, plants,

Go back to your cups. What happened? Heat makes water vapor rise in the air. Since you had plastic wrap on your cups it trapped the vapor. Now remove the wrap and take the temperature of the water? Was there a change?

Review:

1. What are sedimentary rocks made of?

2. How does water vapor form?

3. What are clouds made of?

4. What is erosion?

5. How can we prevent erosion?

This page last edited on Monday October 30, 2006.

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