Matched to Year 3 Light (the Sun can be dangerous, shadows), Year 5 Earth and space (the Sun, Earth and Moon, day and night, the planets) and Year 6 Light (we see things because light reaches our eyes).
Curriculum links last reviewed November 2026.
Why you must never look straight at the Sun, and the safe ways to watch an eclipse.
explain why looking at the Sun is dangerous, and describe a safe way to see it.
Make a pinhole viewer from two pieces of card, then use it in the playground to see the Sun's image, with backs to the Sun.
Every upcoming eclipse, and how much of the Sun will be covered from your town.
explain that a solar eclipse is the Moon's shadow falling on the Earth.
Look up the 2 August 2027 eclipse for your town. Then model it with a torch, a football and a tennis ball.
London · Birmingham · Manchester · Cardiff · Belfast · Glasgow · Edinburgh
A live 3D Moon, lit the way it is right now.
describe how the Moon moves around the Earth and, as an extension, why its shape seems to change over a month.
Look at today's Moon on the globe. Each pupil sketches the real Moon at home every night for a week, then the class compares.
A live map of the solar system, with every working deep-space spacecraft where it is today.
describe how the Earth and the other planets move around the Sun.
Find the spacecraft closest to the Sun and the one furthest away. Which planets do pupils pass on the way out?
When the space station passes over your town, to the minute, and where to look.
explain that the ISS orbits the Earth, as the Moon does, and that we see it because it reflects sunlight into our eyes.
Find the next pass for your town. Pupils watch for it at home with an adult and report back how many seconds they saw it.
London · Manchester · Birmingham · Glasgow · Edinburgh
Where the ISS is right now, and how fast it is going.
use the idea of the Earth's rotation to explain day and night, by watching the line between day and night move across the map.
Put the tracker on the board at the start and end of the lesson. Mark the edge of the night side each time. Which way has it moved, and why?
These are our suggestions for where each tool fits. Always preview a page before using it with a class: some tools show ads, these school pages do not.
Orby's Space Academy uses US spelling.
Know a better fit for your year group, or a topic we have missed? Tell us and we will add it.
Share this page with one link: orbitalradar.com/schools/uk/ks2
Orbital Radar. (2026, November 4). Key Stage 2: Earth and space. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://orbitalradar.com/schools/uk/ks2
“Key Stage 2: Earth and space.” Orbital Radar, 4 Nov. 2026, orbitalradar.com/schools/uk/ks2. Accessed 4 Nov. 2026.
Orbital Radar (2026) Key Stage 2: Earth and space. Available at: https://orbitalradar.com/schools/uk/ks2 (Accessed: 4 November 2026).
Orbital Radar. “Key Stage 2: Earth and space.” Last modified November 4, 2026. https://orbitalradar.com/schools/uk/ks2.
@misc{orbitalradar_schools_uk_ks2,
author = {{Orbital Radar}},
title = {Key Stage 2: Earth and space},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
howpublished = {\url{https://orbitalradar.com/schools/uk/ks2}},
url = {https://orbitalradar.com/schools/uk/ks2},
urldate = {2026-11-04},
note = {Accessed 2026-11-04}
}TY - ELEC AU - Orbital Radar, TI - Key Stage 2: Earth and space PY - 2026 DA - 2026/11/04 PB - Orbital Radar UR - https://orbitalradar.com/schools/uk/ks2 Y2 - 2026/11/04 LA - en-GB ER -
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