We've teamed up with the Institute of Physics to help overcome the stereotypes that surround learning about physics, encourage parents to become great role models for this subject and to inspire children to enjoy learning more about science. Have a go at the activity below to show your child how physics can be relevant to their everyday life.
How to write your own poem about the history of the moon
This interesting article explains about the lifetime of the moon, spanning from the birth of the Solar System 4.6 billion years ago to when humans first walked on the moon in 1969.
Read the page together and ask your child to write a poem about where the moon came from. You could encourage them to put together pairs of words that rhyme, but it doesn’t matter if they don’t, your child will benefit from learning new things.
Take a look at the different poetry types below to get started.
List poem
To create a list poem, write a few lines for the beginning of your poem to set up the story, a few for the end to bring it to a close and a list of words you'd associate with your subject (the moon) for the middle - almost like a poetry sandwich! Here's a few ideas for your list:
- Solar System
- Earth
- Moon
- Stars
- Jupiter
- Mars
- Apollo 11
- 1,350 kilometres deep
- 50-kilometre-deep crust.
Limerick
A limerick is a funny poem with just five lines and an easy rhythm. Take a look at this page for tips and if you're stuck for rhyming words, why not try a couple of these:
- Moon and soon
- Space and grace
- Stars and cars
- Spaceship and zip.
Shape poem
You could write your moon poem in a shape that represents your subject. For the moon, it could be a circular plaent, a star or a rocket. First, draw the outline of your chosen shape with a pencil on a piece of paper, fill it in with words and display it somewhere in your home for everyone to read and enjoy.
Describing a feeling
Create a poem from a description of a feeling. How did reading the article make you feel about the moon? Excited? Nervous? Curious?
Thesaurus poem
Think of a word, any word, and find as many synonyms for it (words with the same meaning) as you can using a thesaurus. For the moon, these could be 'round', 'circular', 'globular', 'disc-shaped' and 'orotund'.
When you have a bank of brilliant words, use them to inspire your poem. You could have some lines as sentences developed from a word, whereas some lines might be one synonym or a list.
Once your child has finished writing their poem, why not perform the poem to friends and family? Or you could display it in your home for everyone to read and enjoy?