Sundials are classic garden ornaments, but they're more than just decorative, they're also useful and educational. Building your own sundial is a fun family project for a summer weekend, and it's a great way for kids to learn firsthand how the sun's position changes from hour to hour and season to season. The instructions here are for an hour-by-hour clock, but instead you could use it to mark daily activities, such as breakfast, lunch, dinner, nap time, game time, etc. through the seasons, so you'll have to change the time or event markers a bit every few weeks to keep you on track. If you live in the north, where the daylight of summer is very long, you'll want to add more "hours" around your clock.
First: Decorate the pots with paint or chalk, if you like, and write a time on each of the 4-inch and 10-inch pots. (The project shown uses a 10-inch upside-down pot for 9, 12, 3, and 6 o'clock and a 4-inch upside-down pot for the other 8am-7pm times.) Paint the stake as well. if you wish.
Fill 10-inch pots with moistened potting soil and plant different flowers or colors of flowers in each one.
Easy and fun alternative: Paint the numbers on the rocks and wear them for a few hours.
Create a 4 foot square base for your sundial. You can simply set aside part of a sunny patio. We laid cement pavers on a sunny part of the lawn (image 1). Paint the pavers with cement paint, if desired.
To create the "gnomon" (pronounced NO-mon), the part that casts the shadow, drive the stake into the 8-inch pot and fill it with gravel to keep it upright. Place the pot and the stake in the center of the cobblestone square.
Easy and fun alternative: Be your own "gnomon". Mark a point in the middle of the "clock" where you or your child can stand. Your shadow will tell the time.!
