Make a Solar System Out of Pumpkins

Now that Halloween is over you might be inclined to toss out your pumpkins. But pumpkins are a valid decoration all the way through Thanksgiving, and there are still learning activities you can do with pumpkins (even beyond the classic rotting experiment, which is a great thing to do with your carved pumpkins).

Teach Beside Me shares the idea of using a collection of pumpkins of different sizes to make your own model of the solar system.

This is a great one to do if you have space outside like a driveway or sidewalk where you can draw the orbits for the different planets. If you have a lot of space and want to get fancy you can calculate the relative distance between the planets and the sun and actually measure out a scale model of at least the inner planets (the distances get pretty huge pretty fast). I found a model using a 6-inch sphere for the sun and a building on the Tennessee Tech campus to measure the distances, or you can use the calculator at the Exploratorium to make a model based on the size of your sun. (Of course if you’re just doing it for fun you can alter these distances, for example doing 5.8 inches between the sun and Mercury instead of 5.8 meters as on the Tennessee model.)

Kids can paint and decorate the pumpkins to look more like the planets, and you can use larger pumpkins for larger planets and smaller ones for smaller planets, even if they don’t perfectly fit the model. You can use this time to talk about the characteristics of different planets, and how in your day Pluto was a planet. Draw in the asteroid belt, add the moon, or whatever else you like to make your model.

Check out all the details at Teach Beside Me, and if you’re looking for more pumpkin-themed STEM activities, check out the post here.

[Photo: Teach Beside Me]

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Solar Eclipse Activities for Kids

The celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is important throughout Mexico and other parts of the world. Her feast day is Dec. 12, and the celebrations honoring her appearance to Juan Diego in 1531 begin a few days before that.

Whether you celebrate yourself or just want to share about the celebration at home or in your classroom, Las Mañanitas: The Beautiful Celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a good place to start. The book, by Ernesto Joel Vega Rosales and Jeanette Gonzalez Seneviratne, with illustrations by Dana Sanmar, tells the story of a family’s celebration of the feast day in both English and Spanish.

They prepare with a novena, which is nine days of prayers and preparations. The children, Lucia and Pablo, are given special outfits made by their grandmother that look like what Juan Diego might have worn when he saw Our Lady. The book describes the prayers that are made each day, such as a prayer for respect for life, for families and for the indigenous people of the Americas, to name a few.

As told in the book, Juan Diego was a native Mexican born near modern day Mexico City. His given name was Cuaauhtlatoatzin, which means “He who speaks like an eagle.” When he converted to Christianity his name was changed to Juan Diego, and as he walked to church he passed a hill called Tepeyac. One day he heard the birds singing especially beautifully and a voice called him to go to the top of the hill.

There he saw Our Lady of Guadalupe, who asked him to tell the bishop she wanted a chapel built in her name at the foot of the hill. The bishop asked for a sign that Juan Diego really saw her, and later she had him collect flowers that she blessed and take them to the bishop. When Juan Diego dropped the flowers, an image of Our Lady could be seen on his cloak, which is still on display in her basilica to this day.

The feast day is celebrated as mañanitas, which includes singing, indigenous music and dancing, and children presenting flowers to Our Lady. Juan Diego is remembered today as being humble, brave and faithful, and was the first indigenous American made a saint.

The book is colorful and tells the story in a clear way, and it’s fun to have it both in English and Spanish if you teach Spanish or speak Spanish at home or in the classroom. It’s a great way to learn the basics of the celebration and the story of Juan Diego and why he is still remembered today.

About the book: 40 pages, paperback, published 2024 by Loyola Press. Suggested retail price $14.99.

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