What Causes Seasons Activity

Objective:

• Understand how the Earths’ tilt causes seasons.
• Conduct a simple experiment to visualize this concept.

Materials Needed:

• A foam ball (to represent Earth).
• A stick or skewer.
• A lamp without a shade (to represent the sun).
• Markers to draw continents.
• Darkened room.

Note: If you have a globe on a stand, you can use that instead of a foam ball, and stick, and will not need to draw continents

Instructions:

Preparation (10 minutes, not needed if you have a globe on a stand)

• Insert the stick through the foam ball at an angle to represent the Earth’s tilt.
• Use markers to draw the continents on the ball.

Demonstration (5 minutes):

• In a darkened room, place the lamp in the center
• Rotate the tilted Earth around the lamp, showing how the sunlight hits different areas more directly during different times of the year

Hands-On Activity (15 minutes):

• Allow youth members to take turns rotating the Earth around the lamp.
• Observe how the sunlight hits different areas more directly as the Earth moves around the lamp

Discussion (5-10 Minutes):

• Ask youth members to explain what they observed.
• Explain how this causes Seasons in different parts of the world.
• Relate the experiment to real-world seasonal changes

Learning Outcomes:

• Basic understanding of Earth’s tilt and orbit.
• Scientific observation skills
• Grasping complex concept through hands-on learning

Useful Links:

• Earths Tilt 1: Reason for the seasons - A short video explaining why the earth’s tilt causes the seasonal differences between our hemispheres