Report Copyright Infringement View in OSM UK

Description

From scouts.org.uk
Make tissue paper versions of Earth and talk about how Earth looks like from space

Resources

Black card
Blue, green, yellow, orange, white and brown tissue paper.
Scissors
Sticky tape or sticky clear plastic
Hole punch
Ribbon
Circle template from https://prod-cms.scouts.org.uk/media/yaujzkvm/circle-template.pdf

Instructions

Step 1: Discussion

Gather everyone around and explain that they'll be making a suncatcher that looks like Earth.
Explain that from space the Earth looks like a sphere or a ball. About two thirds of the surface is covered with water, and the rest is covered with land. Water covers more than 70% of the Earth's surface. The most common locations are in oceans, rivers, lakes and glaciers (Source: BBC Bitesize, 2025).
Ask everyone what colours the Earth might look like from space. A globe is a model of the Earth and shows what it looks like from space. You could show everyone a picture of space from Earth or have a globe for people to look at. We have included information on what you might see -

Blue or green colours for water, such as seas, rivers, lakes and oceans.
White, grey or blueish colours for the ice sheets and glaciers.
White colours for the clouds.
Brown, orange or dark-yellow areas of land, which could be mountains, dry vegetation and deserts.
Green areas of land for vegetation, such as plants, forests, rainforests.
You might also see areas of shadow, such as near mountains.


Step 2: Activity

Give everyone a sheet of black card to create a frame.
Draw a large circle on the card and carefully cut it out. This is the outer edge of your frame.
Next, trace or draw a smaller circle inside the first one. You can use a small bowl or round object for a neat shape.
Cut out this inner circle to make a frame. It should look like an ‘o’ or a ring.
Place the frame onto a piece of sticky-back plastic, smooth it down, then cut it out. Make sure to trim off any excess plastic around the edges of the frame. Alternatively, cover one side of the frame with strips of sticky tape, pressing them down to make sure they stick smoothly.
Use the tissue paper to create the Earth design on a separate piece of paper. Tear or cut it into small pieces or shapes, such as squares, circles, or random jagged pieces. You can use blue tissue paper for oceans, green, brown or orange for land, and white for clouds or ice caps. You can layer them or overlap them to make the colours blend and look more natural.
Once you're happy with how the tissue paper looks on the paper, it's time to stick it down onto the frame. Make sure to press the tissue paper down so it sticks to the sticky-back plastic or sticky tape.
Once finished, you can now cover the entire front side of the frame with another layer of sticky-back plastic or sticky tape to keep the tissue paper sealed and give it a smooth finish. Make sure to carefully trim any excess plastic around the edges.
Use a hole punch to make a small hole at the top of the suncatcher, and thread a piece of string or ribbon through the hole to hang it up.


To make this activity easier, you could cut out the circular frames for people to use.
To make this activity harder, you could ask people to make other planets, such as Jupiter or Neptune.

Tags

(none)

Badge Links

• Skills - Creative activity
• Space - Earth
• Space - Life on Earth