Web-Surfing Sunday: Exploring the planets
When I got home on a recent evening, I knew I had this Sunday's web site nailed. My 4-year-old was glued to kidsastronomy.com, and insisted on going over the planets with me. Though he can't quite read yet, he pointed out each one correctly by its shape and distance from the sun.
Then he said, "That's Pluto. I'm so sad about him. He died."
Well, not quite, honey. Pluto was just fired from being a planet.
Anyway, this is a great site. You can play games to learn the constellations, watch how the night sky changes and hear songs to help you remember why we need the sun. I'd say it's appropriate for preschoolers and kids in the early elementary grades.
Do you have favorite web sites for kids who are interested in space? Please post below.
(Photo of Jupiter flyby in early 2007 provided by NASA to the Associated Press)
Baltimoresun.com's 
Comments
My 8 year old son checked out this site after I read about it on your blog and he loved it - he was online for at least an hour, and late getting to bed!
I have a hard time deciding how much computer time is ok, especially when he is on educational sites - it seems counterintuitive to ask him to stop learning about astronomy, but he could stay online for hours.
Any thoughts?
Posted by: Christine | March 9, 2008 9:34 PM
Here's an astronomy Web site that everyone can enjoy, Kate. It's NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day, and you never know what might pop up. There are spectacular Hubble images, really cool shots of the Earth taken from orbit, and often the unexpected. I check it every day. Here's the url:
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
You can click on the "Archive" link at the bottom of the page and click through a dozen YEARS of daily posts. Some of them will knock your socks off. Enjoy!
Thanks! Read more from space expert and weather blogger Frank at http://weblogs.marylandweather.com/.
Posted by: frank roylance | March 9, 2008 10:46 PM
If your kids are interested in weather, a great site is mountwashington.org. No, it's not about the Baltimore neighborhbood -- it's about the weather on the New Hampshire mountain that has the highest wind speed ever recorded. A lot of fun graphs and dials that show winds/temps at various elevations ...
Posted by: WildBillFan | March 10, 2008 7:38 PM