brownies "let's go to the moon" any ideas?

[Mistressmiggins]

brownies had a powwow and one suggested going to the moon. I thought it would be a fun topic but given we only have 75 mins and will be indoors, does anyone have any good ideas?
Don't want to do painting as brownies always seems to be about crafts.

[BikeRunSki]

can you go to a climbing wall and see how far to the moon the brownies can climb between them ?

watch dvd of moon landings? find interviews with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin?

[Mistressmiggins]

Climbing wall good idea except our local one doesn't run on our brownie night.

[frasersmummy]

can you make rockets ...

we have used empty fim cannisters and alka selters....

[frasersmummy]

have you done "mr moon" campfire magic

you all sit in a circle you have a pen/pencil and you pretend to draw on the floor

this is mr moon (big circle) he has 2 eyes a nose and a mouth

you swap your pen from right to left hand and pass it on to the next person saying can I join the moon club??

the secret being if you dont swap hands before you pass it on you cant join the moon club

As the brownies begin to get the secret they love to add embellishments.. mrs moon has earrings, grumpy mouth, big red nose etc.. bambbozling the new starts completely

[AmandaCooper]

Some games: www.ccis.com/home/jrwms007/games2.doc

Air rockets: spaceplace.nasa.gov/pop-rocket/

More ideas: www.medley6pack.com/space.html

[ComeIntoTheGardenMaud]

Do things about weight/weightlessness?

Make a large loop of string/rope that becomes the 'rocket' inside which the Brownies travel from one lunar activity to the next?

Frasersmummy - With the Mr Moon game, who decides whether they can join the moon club? The leaders?

[Mistressmiggins]

Great! Thanks for those ideas. Off to look at links...

[steppemum]

loads of silver foil put 4 chairs in a square and wrap the foil round the outside to make a rocket.
Get all the brownies (or one six at a time) to go in the rocket to the moon (prize for the best sound effects??)

Once on the moon make up a low gravity dance? Or collect 5 imaginary things you might find there which you share with the others on return?

[xkcdfangirl]

Brilliant! I'm delighted your brownies want to do this. If you do things about weight/weightlessness as ComeIntoTheGardenMaud suggests then please make sure you've got your own understanding right for the sake of your brownies' future science lessons - without making it all about the physics obviously, you want to keep it fun, but it's shocking how much misunderstandings kids pick up from things like this.

• There is gravity on the moon - its just less than the gravity on earth so you feel lighter.
  
• There is gravity in close-earth orbit too - its not weightlessness it's "freefall" there is still plenty of gravity which is keeping you in orbit, but because the space ship you are in is following the same orbital path you seem to float.
  
• If you are in space and experiencing zero gravity, then heavy boots will not help because if there is zero gravity then heavy things will experience zero gravity too.
  

You could enact a space-themed version of the boat-chicken-fox-grain puzzle? Invent 2 different alien creatures one of which is partial to eating the other, whereas the other is mainly keen on eating ZorkleFlakes. Get the brownies in teams of three where one brownie is the spaceship pilot, one is the carnivorous alien and one is the Zorklivorous alien. Designate one part of the room as the moon and another as the space station - The pilot must get all three things from the moon to the space station safely without any of them being eaten, but she has a shuttle that can only carry any two but not all three. If either alien is left unsupervised with their favourite food they will eat it - so working out how to combine the things safely is a bit of a puzzle.

[Mistressmiggins]

xkcdfangirl you're right. I don't want it to be to theoretical but equally did want some facts.
I do want to do something about weightlessness. I found a suggestion but it involved 2 leaders almost carrying the girl to allow her to experience weightlessness and someone at work yesterday pointed out I might hurt my back after the 20th girl!

Some good ideas here - thanks

[sassytheFIRST]

Can you get hold of lots of black paper for sky (splatter white paint for stars?) white sheets/blankets fir moon surface etc and mockup a backdrop which you can then take photos of the brownies planting the brownie flag after landing in the moon? Like the actual moon landing pics?

Hello by the way mistress m, long time no see! Hope all is well

[Mistressmiggins]

Sounds good - we have lots of black paper although after potato printing Tuesday, not sure painting is a good idea

Hi Sassy - life is treating me well thanks x

[cazzybabs]

My dd's brownies are going stargazing with the astronomy department at the university - might be a similar group of weirdy beardies