How to make a sundial

Hey kids it’s time to make a sundial! Life is a Garden is helping the whole family get into the spring of things by celebrating our South African sunshine. Here’s an educational, hands-on project all about time, the Earth’s rotation, and our lifesupporting sun. Get ready scientists and explorers, time is upon us!

A bit about the sundial

Did you know? The sundial is the oldest known instrument for telling time! This ancient, contraption tracks the position of the sun using a gnomon, which is the centrepiece of the sundial that indicates time by the position of its shadow. Up until the early 19th Century, sundials were the main instrument people used to tell time. When correctly positioned, sundials can even tell time to the minute.

You will need:

A flat piece of wood: This will serve as the body of the clock. You can upcycle an old slab of wood from the garage or the scrapyard, use a tree stump, or even repurpose a tile slab. Your local garden centre should have a lovely variety of wooden décor slabs to choose from. Pebbles or stones: These will be the hour placeholders. They can be collected during a walk, scavenged from the garden, or purchased from your local garden centre. We recommend using pebbles with a flatter surface and ones lighter in colour. Paint: To paint numbers of the clock onto each stone and decorate as desired.

A dowel stick for the gnomon:

This is the centrepiece of the sundial. When the sun hits it, a shadow is cast onto the wooden clock base, indicating the time.

A compass or use Google: You will need to find true North to accurately position your sundial.

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Some super glue, a sunny spot in the garden, and an analogue watch.

Sunny suggestion: Instead of using pebbles as hour placeholders, you could also use little succulent or cactus pots. Your local nursery has a great variety of mini cactus pots, and this DIY is the perfect opportunity to buy a few. If you’re going for the potted look, you could use the underside of a pot as your clock base too!

Positioning and assembling your sundial:

True North, here we come! Did you know? There is even a sundial app for kids to download. They can search Google or the App Store for help. If you still have a compass, then get your little explorer out there to pinpoint exactly where Santa comes from.

Once you have found true North and are happy with your sunny spot in the garden, position your wooden clock base. Kids can add all sorts of personal touches to their clock base with some paint or even by burning some cool patterns into the wood using a magnifying glass. 2

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Use the super glue to secure your dowel stick in the centre of the clock base. You can also use a pencil or straight stick from the garden.

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Position your hour placeholder pebbles around or on top of your clock base, depending on how large your stones are.

A DIY garden sundial an excellent opportunity to get kids outdoors, inspire a thirst for exploration, create awareness for the vastness of our universe, and teach them about the evolution of time and life on Earth.  is Paint the numbers of the clock onto each pebble or stone.

Have some fun with different numbering styles. Kids could even go for an ancient civilisation look and paint in Roman numerals or hieroglyphics.

By now, kids should see the shadow being cast onto the sundial. Use your analogue watch to see if the shadow and real-time are matching up. If not, make sure the kids really did find Santa’s true home, and perhaps help them to do a little repositioning.

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Timeless Tip: Instead of pebbles, you could also use pot plants with water-wise succulents!

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Stimulate your brain with a classic game of Word Search!

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WIN

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To ENTER scan the QR code with your phone and complete the entry form online at www.mediaxpose.co.za/babys-and-beyond-publication-page/competitions/. Competition closes 30 November 2022.

The Jigsaw Series

The Jigsaw Series of puzzles from Pearson will keep children engaged with colourful scenes and counting activities.

The series comprises three puzzles: The jungle, the ocean, and the farm. Once the jigsaw is completed there is a counting activity to complete. • Perfect fit, wipe-clean jigsaw pieces • Backed puzzle for extra quality • Counting activity • Great for inquisitive little hands • Illustrated by The Boy Fitz Hammond

Format: Jigsaw, 100 pieces

Size: 105x105x100mm

The Bath Buddies Series

The three books in this series are Belle’s Birthday (learn about friendship), Froggy Swims Fast (learn about movements), and It’s Wild (learn about colours).

Each title focuses on a specific skill that helps the child develop. The books are filled with beautiful images and easily recognisable scenarios for the child that stimulates early development.

Each bath book set comes with a bath toy of the main character. The bath toy encourages roleplay and will help the child visualise the story, retell it or even create his or her own story.

The bath book set also contains six foam animals that can be stuck to the bathtub wall or the pages of the book. The foam pieces will delight the child and encourage creativity while stimulating motor skills and eye-hand coordination. The bath book set is packaged in a storage net where book, toy and foam pieces can be hung to dry when bath time is over.

Format: Toy, 6 foam pieces and a book

Size: 155x155mm