July Kids Corner
from the Gale River Cooperative Preschool
Fun With the Sun
☀️
In this Kids Corner You’ll
Explore the idea that humans have studied the path of the sun through the sky since ancient times.
Practice using the sun’s path to get information about the world.
School is out, summer has begun, and it’s time to break out the sunscreen! You’ve probably noticed that the sun is setting much later in the evening these days and we get more hours of sunlight than in the winter. You might even be going to bed when the sun is still shining! The summer solstice and longest day of sunlight in 2025 was on Friday June 20th.
We have longer days in the summer than the winter because the northern hemisphere (where we live) is tilted towards the sun during the summer and away from the sun in winter.* This also means we get more direct sunlight during the summer because the sun is higher in the sky. If you pay attention to where the sun rises and sets each day, you’ll notice that it’s further north of East and West during the summer.
These days many of us don’t pay too much attention to the sun’s position. We know what day and time it is without it. But long before modern clocks, calendars on our phones, and electricity, people paid very close attention to the changes in sunlight throughout the days and seasons. The position of the sun in the sky allowed ancient civilizations to time the planting and harvesting of crops, to know when the rainy and dry seasons would begin and end, keep track of winter and summer, learn about astronomy, and shape their cultural traditions.
The ancient Mayans of Mesoamerica were famously talented astronomers. They tracked the sun precisely throughout the year, and even designed their buildings based on the path of the sun! For example:
The Maya pyramid at Chichen Itza has a total of 365 stairs to represent the 365 days of the year. Twice per year, once in the fall and once in the spring (on a day called the equinox) the sun hits the pyramid just right so that a snake made of sunlight appears to be slithering down its side (head at the bottom). When the snake appeared on the pyramid, the Maya knew it was time to either prepare their fields for planting or harvest their crops.
Astronomy was very important to the ancient Egyptians too. Each side of the Great Pyramid of Giza is aligned almost perfectly with the cardinal directions (North, South, East, and West). Scientists think that the ancient Egyptians may have traced the path of the sun during the equinox to help them figure out their directions almost perfectly. Without any modern technology they were only “off” by 0.07 degrees!
A very simple sun-tracking tool called a gnomon (sounds like “no mon”) can be found in ancient civilizations all over the world. A gnomon is a vertical object used to track the movement of the sun throughout the day. The position of the gnomon’s shadow can tell users the time of day, and the length of a gnomon’s shadow can give users information about the season.
The vertical part of a sundial is called the gnomon. You could even think of your beach umbrella as a gomon, since its shadow moves throughout the day.
Gnomons (and sundials) were used by ancient Egyptian, Babylonian, Chinese, Indian, Mesoamerican, Greek, and Roman civilizations, among others. The fact that this method of keeping track of the sun appears all over the world highlights how important the sun’s patterns were to ancient people.
Ancient sundials from around the world
Your Turn
Let’s make a compass using the sun! 🧭
You’ll Need:
A stick or vertical object to use as a gnomon
A piece of chalk or two small objects to mark small points on the ground
A ruler or straight edge
A compass (recommended)
These days you probably don’t use the sun to tell what day of the year or time of day it is. With so much modern technology it’s easy to forget that we can get lots of valuable information about our surroundings from the sun. One relatively easy and very valuable piece of information we can get from the sun is the rough cardinal directions. Say you’re hiking and want to know which direction you’re headed. As long as you can see the sun and make a shadow, you can figure it out!
To make a compass using the sun:
Set up your gnomon vertically in an area where you can see its shadow.
Mark the end of the shadow furthest from the gnomon with an X or small object
Wait at least 15 minutes, then mark the end of the shadow with another X.
Use your ruler or a straight edge to draw a line between the two Xs.
Because the sun travels from East to West in the sky, your first X will be West on your compass. Mark it with a W. The second point is East. Mark it with an E.
Next draw a North/South line perpendicular to your East/West line. (North will be counterclockwise, or left, of East)
Check your sun compass with a magnetic compass if you have one. Your sun compass will likely be a couple degrees off, but it should be close!
Sources:
https://maya.nmai.si.edu/maya-sun/maya-and-sun
Images:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/ChichenItzaEquinox.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/Got_the_time%5E_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1469342.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sundial-E_11738-Sundial-E_11738-P5260356-black.JPG
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ancient_Roman_sundial,_Antikensammlung_Berlin,_141306.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/Shadow_Clock_MET_DP-12500-009.jpg
Thanks to our partner, the Gale River Cooperative Preschool in Bethlehem, for helping our area parents get kiddos outside for fun no matter the time of year.
