I would like to try ‘The Spherical Earth” lesson with my infants.
(In a previous art lesson, the children would have made their origami ship.)
As a class, the children would watch this video, to grab their attention..Earth | Space Song | Pinkfong Songs for Children
Another contributor mentioned the use of stations using a different topic, and I think this would work really well with this topic too.
Station 1 Children take their origami ship and and toy figure and place them on the group table, representing the flat earth. The children watch the ships “sail’ away (teacher led) from their figure, they will see the ship get smaller and smaller. Now the group will do the same activity with the globe to represent the round earth. The children will see that the ship gets smaller and appears to ‘sink’ as well because of the spherical nature of the earth.
Station 2: Children will work on the art activity: Earth Mosaics. Children will draw their own landscapes above the dashed line, the seabed and rocks below. When 16 are laid out together in a circle, the children will realise that up and down depends on their perspective.
Station 3 Children will engage with the “Up or Down” activity, using the globe and the toy penguin/ ice bear. I think this is a great activity, as this challenged me when I saw the visual! The children would love the dialogue between the animal at the North Pole and the South pole, esp when the teacher at the station would flip over the globe.
Station 4 Children will revise all their 3D shapes in a game/ activity