Skip to Main Content
Lesson Plan Image

Human Sundial

Who knows what time it is? Your shadow knows! Students will become human sundials as they create an outdoor "clock" with sidewalk chalk.

Lesson Plan

Supplies Needed

Gather all the supplies needed to bring your craft ideas to life! From paints and markers to glue and scissors, our crafts section has everything to spark creativity and make every project truly special.

  • Compass

Steps

  • Step 1

    A sundial is the earliest type of timekeeping device and dates back to about 1500 BCE. It consists of a dial base and a pointer called a "gnomon" which casts a shadow onto the base. The sundial originated in ancient Egypt. Have students look at images of sundials, including examples of the world's oldest known version from Egypt's Valley of the Kings.

  • Step 2

    Have students look at an image of a sundial and identify where the time divisions are placed. (Note that they do not mimic those on a clock's face.) A sundial must be placed on a level surface with the gnomon pointing directly north. The sun will cause the gnomon to cast a shadow onto the time indicator.

  • Step 3

    Bring students outside on a clear sunny day and find a safe, open space. Have students draw a large circle and use a compass to determine and mark where north is. Then have them fill in the numbers per a diagram of a sundial base.

  • Step 4

    Have students take turns being the gnomon by standing in the center of the circle and letting their shadow tell the time.

Standards

SCI: Convey designs through sketches, detailed drawings, or physical models to communicate ideas and solutions.

SCI: Design pictorial or graphic representations/models that are useful in communicating ideas.

SCI: Use relative scales that allow objects and events to be compared and described.

MATH: Elicit evidence of thinking about time as a measurement.

Adaptations

Have students investigate how to read a sundial in different hemispheres or at the equator. Will the gnomon point north in the southern hemisphere? Would it be different at the equator?

Another time-measuring device is the hourglass. Ask students to investigate this apparatus. How is the time determined? What are some of the requirements for the sand in the hourglass? Where might we see a type of hourglass in use today? For example, there are three-minute egg timers and games often use them to time a player's turn.