Top tips on ways parents can make space more interesting

With World Space Week shining a light on the wonders of the universe, Dan Green, editor of The Week Junior Science+Nature, provides parents with some tips on ways they can make space more interesting.

                                                                      Dan Green

• Work together with your child to create cool space rockets and robot rovers using LEGO or recycled materials. Copy NASA’s Artemis rockets or Perseverance rovers, or get creative and invent your own Moon base. 
• Get outside on a clear night, wrap up warm, and see what stars and planets you can spot. This month Jupiter and Saturn are near their highest points in the southern sky. 
• Download smartphone apps, such as SkyView Lite or Star Tracker, which help you identify star patterns in the night sky.
• On the morning of 25 October, a rare partial eclipse of the Sun will be visible from the UK, where the Moon will appear to take a bite out of the Sun. The action starts around 10am. 
• NASA has some free posters of the planets of our solar system that look great on bedroom walls. Download and print them out from solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/925/solar-system-and-beyond-poster-set/
• Buy mobiles or light fittings that project the stars or planets onto bedroom ceilings.
• During the October half term holiday, why not visit your local planetarium or science museum where there are many hands-on experiments and experiences to excite your young ones. If you are in London, check out the Astronomy Photographer of the Year Exhibition at the National Maritime Museum, for stunning views of the universe (the Young astronomy photographer of the year was won by 14-year-old Yang Hanwen)
• Create a homemade rocket to launch in your back garden. You’ll need an empty plastic bottle, four pencils with erasers on the end, a cork, vinegar and baking soda. Here’s a step-by-step guide to lift off:

1. Stand bottle upright. Tape the pencils to the bottle with the rubbers facing up, so that the bottle stands up on them. 
2. Pour one cup of vinegar and two tablespoons of baking soda into the bottle.
3. Quickly insert the cork into the top and flip the bottle onto the pencils. 
4. Step back and wait for blast off!