Sunny Day Fun - Making a Sundial in Your Yard!
Like people thousands of years ago, you can tell time and direction and follow changes in the seasons by keeping track of the sun’s motion with a sundial. The gnomom (pronounced NO-mon) is the most important part of a sundial. The shadow cast by a gnomom indicates the sun’s position in the sky at various intervals throughout the day, month, and year. Sometimes, as in this activity, the gnomom is simply a vertical stick; other times it’s an angled piece of stone or wood.
Sundials have been a feature in people's yards and gardens for many hundreds of years.
You will need:
- A place in the yard that is level and not touched by shade from buildings and trees, all day.
- A half-inch diameter dowel or stick sharpened at one end--about 14 inches long
- A hammer
- A bunch of smooth, light colored stones about 1inch in diameter that you can write on with pencil.
- A pencil
- A watch
What to do
Try to get started early in the morning, shortly after the sun rises. In the center of your special spot, hammer the stick into the ground so that about 10 inches remains above the ground.
Here is a piece of driftwood used as a gnomom.
Throughout the day—at least every hour—place a pebble at the end of the shadow that is cast from your stick. Record the time from your watch on the stone with pencil.
Continue making observations until as late in the afternoon as you can.
To Observe and Notice
As the Sun moves across the sky from east to west, you’ll notice the shadows on your sundial move from west to east. And in most places in the northern hemisphere, the shortest shadow occurs when the Sun is due south. Use this information to mark the points of the compass on your sundial.
Once you’ve made your sundial, you can use it the very next day to tell the time without a watch. But if you use it day after day, month after month, you’ll begin to notice that the path of the Sun changes with the seasons. In the summer, the midday shadows will be shorter than in the winter. The exact directions of sunrise and sunset also change from due east and west to slightly north or south of east and west.
Have fun with this and try making one next time that you're at the beach, too!
Here is a sundial someone made with a feather on the beach! Instead of stones, the times can be written in the sand.
-Evelyn Rysdyk
Do you have a parenting tip of your own? Please send us your stories and photos. Email us at: editors@spritliving.org
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