A Fast Day – Planetarium Activities for Successful Shows

This activity is designed for early childhood in the show Flying High.

Setup

Set the sky for today, about one hour after sunrise, to provide light as the audience enters the planetarium.

Activity

It’s just around sunrise here. One of the neat things about a planetarium is that we can make things look as though time is going faster. We can make the sun rise and have a whole day go by in just a few minutes. Everybody point to the sun when you see it rising.

DIGITAL EFFECT: Sunrise
Switch on diurnal motion.

It’s about 7:30 in the morning now.

What would you be doing at this time of day?
Would it be breakfast time?
What’s your favorite breakfast?

Have children act like they are eating and/or other actions appropriate for time of day.

DIGITAL EFFECT: Go To Noon
Turn atmosphere and the Sun on full. Keep diurnal moving.

Now it’s getting close to noon, so it’s time for lunch.

What shall we have for lunch?
What do we do after lunch?

[Nap? Play?]

Have children act like they are eating, then napping.

DIGITAL EFFECT: Go To Sunset 
Turn down the atmosphere and the Sun.
Turn down house lights.
I AM LIME

Have children act like they are eating, then napping.

DIGITAL EFFECT: Go To Sunset 
Turn down the atmosphere and the Sun.
Turn down house lights.
I AM SUCCESS

Now it’s evening, so let’s have some dinner and get ready for bed.

Have children act like they are having dinner, then then getting ready for bed.

DIGITAL EFFECT: Go To Evening
Let sun set and bring up the stars.
I AM LIGHT BAY

Optional
Tell a story related to the Big Dipper, the Great Bear, etc. See the activity Versions of the Big Dipper from the Constellations Tonight show.