Energy Activities for Children ages 6-10
Our Jewish Sources on energy and its uses
Instructions for Discussion Group Leader
Intended audience: Children 6-10
View a print version of this page.
This program will teach basic concepts about energy and why we need to
save it. It will stimulate discussions about the use of appliances and
ways to save energy at home, even on Shabbat.
Please provide snacks in washable, biodegradable or recyclable containers.
Details of the activities
The leader can pick from the
activities and handouts described below, according to the ages and size
of the group. Please review all materials before beginning the session
and choose what will work best in your community.
Note: This set of activities draws on resources found in “Energy Activities with Energy Ant”, an online workbook created by the Energy Information Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy. |
- Seat the participants in a small group, on the floor is fine.
- Start the discussion with the attached, “Why Should We Save Energy?”
- Distribute the sheet called “Energy Activity: Motion”, which is page 4 from the workbook, “Energy Activities with Energy Ant”.
a. Go over which of the items use “some kind of fuel”
for energy to move, and which use your muscles, or what we can call
“people power”?
b. Could you use “people power” instead of some of the
things that use “fuel”? (like walking instead of using a car, etc.) Is
this always possible?
- Distribute and introduce the Canfei Nesharim handout, “Electrical Appliances We Use at Home – Could We Use Them Less Often or More Wisely?” Have participants fill in their own marks in the appropriate columns, and discuss their answers.
- If it’s a small group, at this level of arithmetic,
you may also distribute the sheet titled “Energy Activity: Energy at
Home”, from the workbook, page 6. Walk through the page with them, answering the questions as you go along.
- “Energy Activities with Energy Ant” also
has a fun board game called “The Race to Save Energy”, that you can
easily make, found on pages 14-15. To create the game, you will need a
pencil and paper clip, clear tape to tape the two pages together, some
small items to move along the board, like various colored paper clips.
It would be best if you could use a color printer to print the pages,
and some poster board to stiffen the “board”, but this is not
essential.
- If the participants are old enough, you can include
the experiment demonstrating the efficiency of Compact Fluorescent
Bulbs, found in the Chanukah Energy Activity for Teens. Materials needed for that experiment are listed there.
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Optional additional activities |
| For further discussions or crafts projects, you may want to use:
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Much thanks to Judy Adler Sheer for preparing these resources.