Now that we are home, we can take advantage of the fact that today is the World Astronomy Day, to explain to our children a concept as abstract as the universe. For the little ones we can talk about concepts such as big, small, near or far, because with less than four years abstract concepts are more difficult, but let's not stop sharing experiences with them.
Let's take the opportunity to observe the universe from our window or balcony, for example, every day we can see at the same time how the moon is changing.
How to explain the universe to children
In general terms we can say that the universe is everything that surrounds us. This includes living things, planets, stars, galaxies, dust clouds, light, and even time. But these terms are very abstract and it is best to "download" them to Earth.
That is why it is important to explain to the child the concept of the universe. starting from himself. They tend to look at the things that are around them, so you can start by explaining: the room, the house, the neighborhood, the city, the country, Europe and thus grow until you reach the immense universe. It is a way for them to understand where they are within him.
If your children are somewhat older and they can understand concepts such as space or time, matter, gravity, it is time to delve into science and astronomy. Surely they are interested in curiosities about different planets in the solar system, exoplanets or black holes.
Of all these topics you have many documentaries on YouTube, choose the one that best suits the child's age and knowledge. What's more here we recommend how to do the representation of the solar system.
The universe explained with the Montessori method
María Montessori is a reference in pedagogy, and many parents and educators follow her way of explaining the cosmology. You can find his files on the Internet and download them, or consult his book The education of human potentialities, in which he developed the Principles of cosmic education, for children under 6 years old.
One of his ideas is that the universe contains everything, included in it, that is why we work with boxes that contain each other, like Russian dolls. Are the calls cosmic boxes. These boxes are usually 12 and each of them has a label, from largest to smallest it would be: The universe, the Milky Way, the Solar System, the Earth, Europe, Spain, the region, province, city, street, the house. , the boy. This example also addresses the issue that people, children, their parents, siblings, grandparents ... are interrelated with nature.
The important thing is to present the idea of the universe to the child in an appropriate way, awakening their curiosity. You have to feel the need to inquire and investigate.
Fun facts about the universe
As we mentioned if your children are older, today World Astronomy Day, you can take advantage of watch an astronaut movie, images of the Hubble telescope, of Mars, listen to the solar dust or visit the page of NASA.
Apart from this, we provide some fun facts about the universe so that you can be surprised together.
For example, there is no center of the universeRather, each galaxy is separated from the other galaxies, which is why the universe is said to be expanding. If you want to give him the figure tell him that every hour, the universe expands about a billion kilometers in all directions. Although we do not get to cover what this means, it is a curious enough fact to stay with it.
Astronomers and astronomers, who are also women, believe that every day about 275 million stars are born. One of the galaxies that we can see with a clear sky, without light pollution is Andromeda And that which is 2 million light years away! No one knows for sure how big the universe is, but scientists have measured the "observable universe", which we can see with the devices we have now would take at least 93 billion light years to cross.