Before clocks, watches and phones, we used a sundial to tell the time. What is a sundial? It’s an ancient instrument that uses shadows cast by the sun to show the time. And today, a sun sundial makes a great feature or structure in your garden. The best bit is, it’s fun and easy to create your own, personalised sundial!
Here’s what you need and how to make it:
- Find a thick, sturdy stick
- 12 rocks, pebbles or stones
- Some paint or a marker pen
- A watch or clock (just to get you set up, then you can use nature’s clock)
- Start by numbering the rocks 1 to 12, you can paint numbers on them, or paint each one a different colour.
- Find a sunny spot that you can return to throughout the day. If you have a garden, this is perfect.
- Place the stick in the ground so that it stands upright.
- Using your existing watch, check where the stick’s shadow is every hour and mark this using your rocks.
- As every hour passes, place a rock in the spot that matches the time so that it’s in the stick’s shadow. After 12 hours, you should be left with a circle of rocks around your stick.
And that’s all there is to it.
Send us a picture of your finished sundial!