Our Sundial

Yesterday A. was keen to explore his fascination with measuring time when I suggested that maybe we could make our own sundial. Thankfully the weather was on our side and we got all day sun, which is just more evidence of the fact that we are enjoying an early spring.

A.:  "We actually made a thing that goes around and around - a sundial.

We saw what the time was and we left a heater there so we could draw around the shadow with chalk.

We put the number of the hour with I and X so you could see what the time was. Next day I stood in the circle and I could see what time it was from where my shadow was.

Right now I can't seem to find my shadow so I can't do it."

It's really cool that he gets the ability to explore the features and limitations of his experiments. He knows that the clock on the computer works with electricity. We have little discussions about this and he knows that there is a battery inside the computer so that the computer can remember what date and time it is. One of our friends has a computer with a flat battery so the computer can't remember what date or time it is.

M. was keen to be hanging out with her family. She liked the idea of playing with chalk and also likes standing up next to the heater that we were using as a gnomon.

I like being in a community where our play can spill out onto the curb and it is refreshing to not need to gate my children in, though the property manager did suggest I bring it up with the landlord. I have worked with the boys since they were smaller than their sister so that they know to look out for cars, and not cross driveways where cars might be pulling out. In some ways it's easier to "baby proof" the babies than to try and make their play environment safe. It just means that you have to be present, and include them in the decision making process, make them aware of possible consequences,  rather than making unilateral decisions about their safety. They don't have full planning skills from a young age and have very little understanding of consequences, but the more they are involved in their own planning the better they get over time. The last thing I want is 9 year olds who can't cross the street unless I am there to hold their hands.

There are lots of things that go straight over A.'s head, but I see no reason to not mention them. We used Roman numerals for our sundial and he had not encountered them before. He may not know how it all works but it will look familiar to him next time he sees them on a fancy watch or clock, or in an Asterix comic or something. I can never plan for where he is going to encounter these things, but the more he gets shown the more chance he has of seeing connections between things, and I learnt when he was very small, that if things are familiar then they are "cool".