The BC Summer Reading Club has partnered with Astronomer Rachel Wang, from the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre to learn about living in space and the Perseids meteor shower.

You can watch the event by clicking here. You can also watch this previous segment where Rachel discusses things you can see from your own backyard.

Click the book, sit back and watch this story, (run time 5 min). Brightly Storytime presents Here We Are, by Oliver Jeffers, a sweet and gently humorous guide to humanity for children and their parents.

Materials needed:
Blank Paper (thick is best)
A container for each paint colour
A straw

Blow-painted Alien Art

1. Using 2 small containers, make 2 shades of runny (thinned) paint by adding water to it. It’s fun to choose primary colors that mix to make secondary colours! (See the Colour Mixing Chart for ideas).
2. Pour some of one colour onto a (thick) piece of paper. Pour some of the other colour next to it, just touching. Then blow at the paint.
3. Now hold a straw above the paint- and blow through the straw to make the paint spread out in different directions. These could become arms or legs or…some alien part! Keep blowing until you make a shape you like. Use the end of the straw to drag paint around to make other body features.
4. When paint is dry, draw eyes and a mouth on your monster with a thin black marker.

Is There Anybody... Out There?

Is anyone waiting for us out beyond the stars?

Space is so big, surely there are aliens somewhere, right? Dr. Frank Drake wrote his famous equation to help us answer this very question. Thanks to the investigations done by NASA (like the Trappist-1), we're getting closer to answering Frank Drake's dream with each starry night!

A group of astronomers, SETI, are reaching out to the stars with clever technology. Director Jill Tarter explains their mission. So... is anyone out there? We'll know, possibly very soon!

How Black is a Black Hole?

Ever get lost in the dark? When the lights are off, you can't see a thing! Since black holes eat all the light they can, just what do they even look like?

Here on Earth, scientists have Vantablack: it's completely dark, just like looking at a black hole!

If a black hole is invisible, will we ever get to see one? Yes! Last year, astronomers finally took the first photograph of a real black hole! Just how do you take a picture of something like that? This video explains their approach.

Spaghettification

Yikes! Once you get too close to a black hole, you'll never get out! It will spaghettify you into one long noodle! The picture below is what it looks like (to us on the outside), but what does it look like for that poor astronaut?

Watch this video to fall into that black hole and find out!

Still want to visit a black hole? Well, okay space cadet! NASA has a fun guide to help you on your trip!

Want more? Here are some extra fun facts about Black Holes! (and here it is explained by some puppets??)

Animated short film by Toniko Pantoja. Run time 3 minutes. A girl is commissioned to paint over an old concrete illustration, which sucks her in. She then befriends a painted dragon with a missing wing.

Click the book, sit back and watch this story, (run time 6 min). When a Dragon Moves In is written by Jodi Moore and read by Mark Duplass.

Quick! Get through the maze to the treasure beyond- watch out for the dragon…

Materials: Scotch tape or masking tape, ball of yarn.

Suitable for spaces which form corridors.

1. Cut lengths of yarn and tape to either side of corridor; these are the laser beams
2. Yarn should be placed at all sorts of different heights and angles
3. Children attempt to move from one end of the laser beam pathway to the other end without touching any of the laser beams
4. If any part of a child’s body or clothes touches a laser beam, that child must start again at the beginning
5. It might be an idea to appoint “guards” to observe the activity

Source: https://artprojectsforkids.org/dragon/

Click here for the PDF step by step instructions to draw a dragon! Maybe put a different background scene behind it, or draw a whole dragon family…

From Earth, stars in the night sky look like tiny points of light. But stars are not tiny - they're huge! Stars are burning balls of gas, just like our Sun. They only look small because they are so far away.

The Big Dipper, when seen from Earth, looks like a dot-to-dot picture. But, if you saw it from a spaceship, it would not look flat at all! From a side angle, it wouldn't even look like a “dipper” anymore. The stars in the Big Dipper are actually nowhere near each other. Some are seven times farther away than others!

To see what the Big Dipper would look like from outer space, click here for the step-by-step instructions to make a big dipper mobile!

This is a go-as-fast-as-you-can game! You will need a timer, a plastic spoon for each player and cotton balls. What to do: Scatter cotton balls “space rocks” on the floor. Instruct your astronaut to crawl to pick up the “space rocks” with a plastic spoon, (no extra holding).

Their challenge is to bring space rocks back to the ship in another room, before their oxygen runs out!

The Hubble Space Telescope was named after astronomer Edwin Powell Hubble (1889–1953), who made some of the most important discoveries in modern astronomy. He helped to realize that the Milky Way is only one of many galaxies in the universe, and also began thinking of the idea of an expanding universe.

Hubble orbits the Earth at an altitude of about 547 kilometers, traveling at a speed of about 27,300 kilometers per hour. The telescope takes about 95 minutes to complete one orbit around Earth, that’s fast!

Click here to see some of Hubble’s amazing images.

Time for slime! Gather the following ingredients and follow the directions below:

1. Clear school glue
2. 1 teaspoon of borax
3. Water
4. Red and blue food coloring
5. Two bowls
6. Measuring cups: 1/2 cup and 1 cup
7. Glitter
8. Wax paper

Click here for Galaxy slime directions

Local Stars

The Interactive Night Sky Map simulates the sky above Prince Rupert on a date of your choice. Use it to locate a planet, the Moon, or the Sun and track their movements across the sky.

The NASA Space Place is an awesome website for kids to keep learning about the solar system.

Time to do some stargazing of your own! Don't have a telescope? That's okay! Stellarium will let you look up into the starry night sky from any spot in the entire world!

Asteroids are small, rocky or metal space objects that orbit the Sun. Asteroids look like small dots of shining stars. Most asteroids can only be seen through a telescope. Check out this slideshow of asteroids and comets.

Gather and paint “asteroid rocks” one colour of paint per team. Both teams hide their asteroids. Each team’s astronauts try to find the other team’s rocks.

And here are ten more fun games for budding astronauts!

Blast into lunchtime! SRC kids are challenged this week to make a sandwich that looks like a rocket ship. Here’s some ideas - use cookie cutters on slices of bread, make tiny sandwiches and stack them together, use wraps instead of bread, sliced veggies can make windows, rocket fire and wing pieces. For details put yogurt, or dip, into a zip-lock bag and cut the corner to squeeze into lines and shapes on your ship!

Craters on the Moon are caused by asteroids and meteorites colliding with the Moon’s surface. Every impact event will remain intact for billions of years because the Moon has no weathering (from wind or rain), no erosion can take place, and no water or vegetation which could easily disguises impact craters.

Click here to learn why there are so many more craters on the moon compared to the earth.

Tin Foil Moon

Begin by cutting a circle shape from tin foil. Make moon craters by using coins. Choose different sized coins for different sized craters. Place the coins under the foil and rub your finger lightly around the edges to reveal the circle shapes in the foil. Glue the moon edges to a piece of black cardstock. Embellish with pastel or chalk around the edges.

Want more outer space craft ideas? Try making some of these!

What if… you could make anything? Click on the inspirational list above, full of fun and unusual things to MAKE with. Grab a few items from the list you have on-hand and see what built creation emerges!

Source: Left Brain, Craft Brain

Summer is a great time to explore outdoors as a family. As you walk in nature pay attention to the plants and animals around you. Listen for animal sounds and look at different plant types.

Get the iNaturalist app! Their mobile app will help you identify plants. Watch this video to learn how it works!

Not sure where Howe Creek Trail is? Click here to see the trail map.

Find these 15 places: Between Christie Park and Lanfear Drive. (Click the picture on the right to enlarge!)

Rube Goldberg brought both his humour and his training as an engineer into making his famous cartoons. Click here to see some of his iconic comic strips.

A Rube Goldberg Machine is a series of chain reactions that make a simple task complicated (and humorous). Tinker Lab is a great site to start to learning about Rube Goldberg Machines. It lays out clear instructions with some inspirational kid-designed machines.

Check out Joseph’s Machines for some very complex and amusing inventions!

Get inspired by checking out the Terrace Public Library's Marble Run lesson.

Happy inventing!