Activity Introduction

Quick summary: This activity has been developed to give children the opportunity to learn more about the sun and the energy we get from it. Younger children “paint” with water outside, testing to see whether the “paint” in the sun or shade dries the fastest. Older children experiment with shadows to see how far shadows move over a set period of time. This activity is designed to help connect children to the wonders of the natural world through sensory and play-based learning.

Activity developed in partnership with   tasmania_hydro_200x84_300pxl

Hydro Tasmania has been at the forefront of clean energy innovation for one hundred years. It is Australia’s largest producer of clean energy – generating hydro and wind power – and the largest water manager. Hydro Tasmania has 55 major dams, operates 30 hydropower stations and has built some of Australia’s largest wind farms.

Hydro Tasmania also sells energy in the National Electricity Market through its retail business Momentum Energy, and sells its expertise internationally through its consulting business Entura. Visit the Hydro Tasmania website to learn how the business is working towards Australia’s clean energy future.

EYLF Learning Outcome

Elaborations

Outcome 2: Children are connected with and contribute to their world

3. Children become socially responsible and show respect for the environment

Outcome 4: Children are involved and confident learners

1. Children develop dispositions for learning such as curiosity, cooperation, confidence, creativity, commitment, enthusiasm, persistence, imagination and reflexivity

2. Children develop a range of skills and processes such as problem solving, enquiry, experimentation, hypothesising, researching and investigating

3. Children transfer and adapt what they have learned from one context to another

4. Children resource their own learning through connecting with people, place, technologies and natural and processed materials

Equipment needed:

  • Ages 0 to 3: Paintbrushes and rollers, buckets of water.
  • Ages 3 to 5: Coloured chalk.

Supporting resources:

Collect items and images that are associated with the theme of the sun to use as conversation starters.

Other resources:

Cool Australia Presents Energy from Cool Australia on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/74926420

 

The team at Cool Australia continually reviews and refines our Early Learning resources in line with expert advice and current educational practices.

Worksheets

Teacher Worksheet

Background Information

Energy is the lifeblood of our modern life. It gives us light and keeps our food fresh. It powers our industry, fuels our cars, and charges our iPhones. Our energy is produced by burning fossil fuels and this has a range of environmental, social and economic impacts. One of the most significant is the emission of greenhouse gases. A solution is a transition to clean energy sources. The brilliant thing is that we have huge amounts of free, renewable and clean supplies of natural energies. These include sunlight, wind, running water, oceans and underground hot rocks.

According to the Clean Energy Australia Report 2013:

  • 14.76% of Australia's electricity came from renewable sources in 2013; enough to power the equivalent of almost 5 million homes.
  • Wind turbines provided enough energy to power 1.3 million homes.
  • 3.1 million Australians lived or worked at a property with solar panels at the end of 2013.

We've still got a long way to go, but Hydro Tasmania

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