Day and night — Science, 4–6 years
Day and night happen because Earth turns, so different places face the Sun and then turn away from it.
Earth turns in sunlight
The Sun lights only the side of Earth that faces it. As Earth turns, our place moves into sunlight, where it is day, and then away from sunlight, where it is night. Earth keeps turning, so day and night repeat.
Why the Sun seems to move
We need to explain why the Sun appears in a new part of the sky during the day and disappears at night. The Sun is very far away, while Earth is turning beneath it. From the ground, this turn makes the Sun seem to travel across the sky.
Use a globe and a lamp
Put a sticker on a globe to represent your town and shine a lamp at it. When the sticker faces the lamp, call it day. Turn the globe halfway around: the sticker faces away, so call it night. Turn it halfway again and day returns. This models Earth’s turning.
The Sun is not switching off
It is reasonable to think the Sun goes away at night, because we cannot see it and the sky becomes dark. But the Sun keeps shining; our part of Earth has turned away from it. At the same time, another part of Earth is facing the Sun and has daytime.
Time for daily life
Day and night help people organise sleeping, waking, school, work and meals. Plants and animals also respond to this repeating pattern: some flowers open in daylight, while some animals are active at night. Clocks and calendars help us describe when these changes happen.
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