The Long Black Strip

Age
6-9.

Materials
30 meters of ribbon:


 * 29.999 m. in black
 * 0.001 m. in white
 * 1 centimeter = 1,000,000 years
 * 10 meters represent 1,000,000,000 years
 * 30 meters represents 3,000,000,000 years, the average accepted length of earth's history (in 1939). Now we know it is approximately 4.6 billion years.

Presentation

 * 1) Remember the Dance of the Elements in our Creation Story?
 * 2) That was such a long, long time ago.
 * 3) Begin unrolling strip.
 * 4) In the beginning we said that everything was dark, there were whirling gasses which gradually cooled and how long this process took.
 * 5) It took thousands of years.
 * 6) And then the rains came and filled in the hollows, the air was cleared up and the seas were formed.
 * 7) Now the Earth was like a shriveled up apple.
 * 8) There was no life on Earth.
 * 9) At sometime, somewhere, a long long time ago, life began.
 * 10) It began to fill the seas and after thousands of years, it began to climb out of the water onto the land.
 * 11) Keep looking at how long it was, referring back to the strip.
 * 12) Insects developed and large dinosaurs.
 * 13) The insects have made a contract with the flowers and the earth is covered with grass.
 * 14) There are flowers in her hair... and pure water is crystal clear...
 * 15) Watch what is coming! How long it has taken!
 * 16) What is it? A white line. What does it mean?
 * 17) This is humanity - all humans.
 * 18) Hold it in your hands... this is all of history: cave people, Egyptians, Greeks... all here.
 * 19) How long it took for the earth to prepare itself.
 * 20) A long time passed, while the animals developed and the plants prepared for Humans to come to this Earth.!!

Points Of Interest

 * 1) Don't give the child the measurement of the strip. The demonstration is meant to be impressionistic and to pique an emotional response.
 * 2) The colors should be opposing.
 * 3) The white dates form the first real appearance of civilization on the Indus River.