Thursday, May 23, 2013

Our Notebook Timeline

We've started looking into the evolution of horses a bit, with plans to dig a lot deeper. That, of course, means a time-line is in order.

I love the idea of making a time line on the wall (here's another post), like our friends over at Craft Knife have, but our landlord would probably be a little angry about that.

Plus, we wouldn't be able to take it with us whenever we move.

So, I figured we needed a notebook timeline. But I wanted a BIG notebook timeline. I wanted to be able to get a feel for the passing of time, without wasting a ton of pages in the notebook.

So, I picked up one of these

18 inches by 24 inches 
(the mixed media means the paper is a bit heavier duty so our sharpies or any painting we do shouldn't bleed through as easily)

from Michael's. It was 40% off which was nice, though we usually get our sketchbooks when they are buy one get one free. 

Anyway, I know I wanted to create a time line following the Big Bang Theory, and having this gigantic book will make that a bit easier. Here is what we have so far (with resources listed at the end of the post).

Timeline- Big Bang to Now (3)
Emma drawing the Earth

Timeline- Big Bang to Now (5)

*Photos by Emma*
Timeline- Big Bang to Now (10)
Emma drew the Big Bang

Timeline- Big Bang to Now (12)
Her finished Earth

Timeline- Big Bang to Now (14)
3.8 Ba (billion years ago)

Timeline- Big Bang to Now (15)
2.1 Ba

Timeline- Big Bang to Now (16)
0.2 Ba

Timeline- Big Bang to Now (8)
15 Ba to Present

I love how the size of this notebook lets us see how little happened between the start of the Big Bang till about 4.6 billion years ago. Our next two page spread will focus on the last 600 Million years, based off of BBC's "History of Life on Earth" timelines

Emma was a little surprised to realize that humans have only been around for a very, very small fraction of time. I'm looking forward to learn more about all of this with her. 

Other resources we used are 


We also used this photo to sort of spark the conversation (Big Bang, spark, I am so funny).

*the picture isn't working*

There may have been talk of hair being the size of a fraction of a second, and that certain things happened in the space of a hair. I think it helped her to visualize the first second of the big bang. 

Yes, a lot of the small details of it are way over her head (and mine), but it helps to give her the basics of info now (as long as she is receptive) so that later, it won't be completely new. 

And yes, I realize that some of the info may not be 100% accurate, but this is just a broad overview of our time line, and we plan to get way more in-depth as time and interest allows. We will, of course, be spending a lot of time on the evolution of the horse, and with that we will also learn about dinosaurs, plants, as well as human evolution and so much more!

Don't you just love how horses can spark so much learning? 


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