DIY sundial - with free template

Make your own sundial

With free craft template to download.

Long summer days and clouds only appear now and then. The perfect opportunity to build a clock for outdoors that doesn't need electricity or batteries. Attention, little explorers! We're making a sundial to match the season. We've done some research for you on how to tell the time using the sun. Reading the analogue clock with a sundial is a particularly exciting first step for children – don't you think? It's also something different for parents who have already soaked up enough vitamin D at the outdoor pool or in the sandpit thanks to their children.

How does a sundial work?

A sundial shows the time of day with the help of the shadow cast by sunlight on the dial. In our small model, the shadow cast by the gnomon is a wooden skewer. But why can we tell the time from a shadow? It's quite simple: the Earth rotates around its own axis once every day, i.e. in 24 hours – you could explain this to your children by simply turning around on the spot, as the term 'axis' is unlikely to be very illuminating for them. This means that as the Earth rotates throughout the day, the shadow cast by the sunlight changes. And it was precisely this principle that people used thousands of years ago to tell the time – as long as the sun was shining, of course.

Craft instructions for our sundial

But when children experiment for themselves and make their own sundial, they understand the principle much better. That's why we've provided some very simple craft instructions for little explorers and craft enthusiasts below! Everything you need to make the sundial :

our sundial template – available to download free of charge
an IKEA HEAT pot holder
a wooden skewer, e.g. a kebab skewer
a pair of scissors

Making the sundial is so easy!

Simply fill out the form and you will receive the craft template as a PDF to print out by email.

Download craft template free of charge

Download craft template

1. Carefully cut out the sundial template using scissors.

2. Place the cut-out sundial on the trivet.

3. Stick the wooden skewer through the centre of the sundial into the trivet so that the sundial cannot slip and the so-called pole stick remains perpendicular to the dial. And lo and behold: the sundial is ready in no time!

DIY sundial for children

Now you can put your homemade sundial outside and watch the time. Choose a particularly sunny day, because the fewer clouds there are in the sky, the better you can see the shadow falling on the dial. Maybe you can even film your homemade sundial for a few hours and watch the time-lapse recording later. The children will love seeing how their homemade experiment works!

More craft ideas for

playful learning

If you like the sundial and would like to do more crafts, you can find more craft templates to print out here. Take a look at Pinterest too! We have put together lots of boards on different topics for you there.

Bring even more sunshine into your child's room

To match the sundial, you can bring even more sunshine into your child's room. Our sun wall stickers will enchant any child's room and can be perfectly combined with our colourful rainbows and clouds.