Easy Astronomy Experiments and Activities

Astronomy you can do without a telescope

You do not need much equipment to explore astronomy. The activities below use everyday materials and can be done indoors, in the garden or on a cloudy night when the sky is not cooperating. They suit families, classrooms and curious adults. Younger children will need adult help with some steps.

When you are ready for real observing, our stargazing for beginners guide explains how to get started.

Safety first

Never look directly at the Sun, with the naked eye or through binoculars, a telescope or a camera, unless you are using properly certified solar filters made for that purpose. For the Sun activities below, only use projection or shadows, and supervise children. Take care with torches, scissors and hot lamps, and do not leave children alone near anything that heats up.

Activity 1: Model the phases of the Moon

You need: a ball (a polystyrene or tennis ball works), a pencil or stick, and a single lamp in a dark room.

1. Stand in the room with the lamp as the Sun, and hold the ball at arm’s length as the Moon.
2. Turn slowly in a full circle, keeping the ball in front of you.
3. Watch how the lit part of the ball changes as it moves around you.

What it shows: The Moon is always half lit by the Sun. We see different amounts of that lit half as it orbits Earth, which creates the phases.

Activity 2: Make Moon craters

You need: a tray, flour or fine sand, a dusting of cocoa powder or dry paint, and small objects such as marbles or stones.

1. Fill the tray with a layer of flour and dust cocoa powder on top.
2. Drop marbles from different heights, and try varying the angle.
3. Remove the marbles and look at the craters and the material thrown outward.

What it shows: Craters on the Moon were mostly formed by impacts. Dropping objects from different heights gives a feel for how impact energy affects crater size, though this is only a simple model.

Activity 3: Build a scale solar system

You need: a long piece of paper, string or a long path, and a ruler.

1. Choose a scale. For example, pick a short distance to represent the gap between the Sun and Mercury.
2. Look up the average distances of the planets from the Sun and scale them to your strip of paper or path. Many astronomy websites list them.
3. Mark each planet’s position and label it.

What it shows: The planets are far apart, and the outer planets are much more distant than the inner ones. Most people are surprised by how much empty space there is.

Activity 4: Make a simple sundial

You need: a flat board or piece of card, a straight stick or pencil, a compass or phone compass app, and a marker.

1. Place the board on flat ground in a sunny spot where it will not be shaded.
2. Fix the stick upright in the centre.
3. Mark the tip of the shadow every hour and label the time.

What it shows: The Sun appears to move across the sky because Earth rotates. The shadow’s length and direction change through the day. A more accurate sundial needs the stick angled to match your latitude, but this basic version is a good start.

Activity 5: Pinhole projection of the Sun (supervised)

You need: two pieces of white card and a pin.

1. Make a small pinhole in one card.
2. Stand with your back to the Sun, hold that card so sunlight passes through the hole, and let the light fall on the second card.
3. Look at the small image on the second card, never through the hole.

What it shows: A small round image of the Sun forms on the card. During a partial solar eclipse the image appears as a crescent. Only look at the projected image, never at the Sun.

Activity 6: Why do we have seasons?

You need: a globe or ball, a stick or skewer to mark a tilted axis, and a lamp.

1. Tilt the globe so it leans consistently in one direction.
2. Walk it around the lamp, always keeping the tilt pointing the same way.
3. Notice which hemisphere leans toward the lamp at different points in the orbit.

What it shows: Seasons are caused mostly by the tilt of Earth’s axis, not by its distance from the Sun.

Activity 7: Test light pollution at home

You need: a clear night, a notebook, and a star chart or app.

1. Choose a patch of sky, for example around a well-known constellation such as Orion or the Big Dipper (see how to find the famous constellations), depending on your hemisphere and season.
2. Count the stars you can see with your eyes alone.
3. Repeat from a darker location, or with nearby lights turned off.

What it shows: Artificial light hides faint stars. Comparing counts at different places is a simple citizen-science style activity, and some organisations run star-counting projects you could contribute to.

Activity 8: Keep an observing log

Record the date, time, location, weather and what you saw. Sketch the Moon, note which planets are visible, and track how a bright planet shifts against the stars over weeks. A log helps you notice patterns and improve your observing.

Taking the activities further

• Join a local astronomy club or attend a public observing night.
• Try binoculars on the Moon or on a bright cluster from our star clusters list.
• Look into citizen science projects that use observations from ordinary people.
• Take a dark-sky camping trip and try the star-counting activity under truly dark skies.
• Read about why stargazing can be good for you and keep a quote from our night sky quotes page in your log.