Time zones

Ages 9 to 12 Read alone or together · about 25 minutes

Read together

The Earth turns once a day, so it is morning in one place while it is night in another.

We split the world into time zones. Each is about one hour apart.

Do it

1. Use a lamp as the Sun and a ball as the Earth. Mark your home with a sticker and turn the ball.
2. Find a place far away where a family member lives. Look at its time difference.
3. If it is 9 in the morning at home, what time is it there?
4. Pray for them at the time they wake up.

Talk about it

• Why is it night there when it is day here?
• What is the time difference?

For the grown-up

Time zones follow the Earth's turn, about 15 degrees of longitude per hour, but political borders bend them, and some places use half-hour offsets. The Philippines is UTC+8 and does not use daylight saving time. Keep any lamp away from flammable things.

Mark as done

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Where this comes from

• National Institute of Standards and Technology, Time and Frequency Division, pages on time zones and UTC
• International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service, information on UTC

Written with AI assistance and checked against the sources listed. Please read it before sharing it with a child.