As I awoke this morning, I felt a cold chill that I've not yet felt this Winter season.  I was quickly reminded in my mind why that was so.  I remembered the forecast from the previous day, at that moment it was somewhere in the lower 20's outside, and the temperature would be falling through the day.  Funny how the thermostat in my home can say 70 degrees, but something deep inside me gives notice that it's just plain cold outside.  Then my next thought rested upon the date today, December 21st, it is the Winter Solstice.

During breakfast I announced to the kids that today was the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year.  Upon which I was greeted with strange looks from my two older children which made me painfully aware that my teaching from last year had went in one ear and out the other.  SO, I pulled out my new prized book Explore Winter, and decided to read a bit to them about the Winter Solstice, but most importantly do a hands-on experiment to perhaps help the concept to "stick" better this year.

First of all, Christiananswers.net has some great information and graphics to explain the Winter Solstice, and they even give an idea for a great hands-on demonstration.  In fact, now that I think of it, I remember doing an experiment very similar to it this past March at the turn of spring.  That blog post can be found HERE.

But today, we did an experiment that I found in the Explore Winter book that I liked just as much.

You will need:

an apple (or an orange)

a rubber band (or permanent marker)

a bamboo skewer (or two toothpicks)

another toothpick (or sticker or thumbtack)

and a large bowl

First, to represent the Earth's axis we used a bamboo skewer to put through the center of an apple (our Earth).  You could also use two toothpicks pushed through either end of the apple.

Then we put a rubber band around the center of the apple to signify the equator. And pushed a toothpick into the approximate spot where we are located (you could also use a sticker or thumbtack).

Then we placed a large bowl upside down on a chair, representing the sun.  And proceeded to travel around the "sun" showing the change of the tilt in the Earth's axis which results in the change of how directly the sun hits our "little spot on the world".  Less direct sunlight = less direct heat = colder temperatures and less daylight.

I found a website with some Winter Solstice activities at Family Education.  This site has a fun Winter Solstice Quiz (I missed two out of five, not very good!), and even some tips on how to beat the Winter Blues and Cabin Fever, which as the daylight hours diminish down and the fridged air sets in I know I could sure use some help with that!

Here's a cute joke from the Explore Winter book to give you a giggle:

Q:  How do you keep from getting cold feet in winter?

A:  Don't go around BRRRRfooted!