Play cosmic pursuits
You’ll need
- A4 paper
- Permanent markers
- Something to mark lines (for example, chalk, masking tape, or rope)
- Ribbons or rope (tails)
- Space themed music (optional)
Before you begin
- Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Take a look at our guidance to help you carry out your risk assessment, including examples.
- Make sure all young people and adults involved in the activity know how to take part safely.
- Make sure you’ll have enough adult helpers. You may need some parents and carers to help
Planning and setting up this activity
- Label one side of the space ‘Mercury’ and the other side ‘Neptune’.
- Make a flat line in the middle of the space, such as with chalk or tape. This will be the Asteroid belt.
Asteroids
Asteroids are made of metals and rocky material. They’re much smaller than planets and can vary in size. There are lots of asteroids in our solar system that go round (or orbit) the Sun. This can take millions of years to complete. There are large numbers of asteroids orbiting the Sun in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. (Source: BBC Bitesize)
Meteoroids and meteors
Sometimes asteroids can bump into each other in space, and this can mean small pieces break off. These smaller pieces of rock are called meteoroids. Meteoroids can be as small as a grain of sand or as large as a metre across. If a meteoroid gets close enough to the Earth that it enters our atmosphere, it begins to burn up and fall to the ground. This burning trail is known as a meteor. They’re usually bright in colour and leave beautiful trails of light in the sky. Some people call them shooting stars, but they aren't really stars, just tiny chunks of rock burning up in the Earth's atmosphere. If a meteoroid rock doesn't completely burn up as it falls to Earth - the rock that is left behind is called a meteorite. (Source: BBC Bitesize)
Comets
Comets also float through space orbiting the Sun. However, comets are made up of ice and dust, not rock - like a giant dirty snowball! As the comet moves towards the sun, the heat begins to melt the ice and dust - turning it from a solid to a gas. This creates a beautiful, bright tail. You can see a comet travelling through the sky when it is very far away from the Earth, however you can only see a meteor when it burns up in our atmosphere. (Source: BBC Bitesize)
Running this activity
- Gather everyone together and ask them if they know what the difference is between comets, asteroids and meteors. You can use the information on this page to explain what each one is.
- Ask everyone to get into three groups. There should be more people in one group than the others.
- The biggest group will be the comets. The comet’s tails, made from ribbon or string. They move from one end of the space to the other, holding their tails.
- Another group will be the meteors. Meteors need to try to grab a comet’s tail. If a Comet is tagged, they become a Meteor.
- The last group will be the asteroids. The asteroids need to stay along the asteroid belt and try to catch meteors. If they tag a meteor, the meteor freezes for five seconds before continuing.
- Comets must move between the ‘Mercury’ side and ‘Neptune’ side between zone without losing their tails.
- After a set amount of time, any comets who haven’t lost their tails, win. You can then get teams to switch roles and play again.
Reflection
This activity was all about exploring the differences between comets, meteors, and asteroids through a fun game. You took turns pretending to be these space objects. What was the most exciting part for you? Was it tricky to avoid being tagged or bumping into others? How did your team work together—did you share ideas or come up with plans? Think about one new fact you learned about space objects. What can you remember? If you could improve the game, what would you change or add to make it even more fun?
Safety
All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.
You must run your activities in line with the Safeguarding Code of Conduct for Adults (Yellow Card) and report any concerns to the UK HQ Safeguarding Team.
- Contact games and activities
Make sure everyone understands what contact is acceptable, and monitor contact throughout the activity.
- Active games
The game area should be free of hazards. Explain the rules of the game clearly and have a clear way to communicate that the game must stop when needed. Take a look at our guidance on running active games safely.
- To make this activity easier, you could have fewer people in the Asteroid or Meteor teams. You could also give the Comets two tails, so the Meteor team must catch both tails.
- To make this activity harder, you could have more than one Asteroid belt.
- Make sure any movements and actions are things everyone can do. For example, instead of grabbing the tails, you could tag players instead. This game can be played standing or sitting too. Asteroids and Meteors could be sat down, either on the floor or on chairs.
- Make sure any equipment is accessible for everyone. For example, you may need to use a thicker material for the tails, so it’s easy for everyone to try to grab.
- People can move at their own pace, so you don’t need to make it competitive unless it works for everyone. You could adapt the competitive element. For example, instead of a race where the fastest wins, consider giving points for specific achievements within a set time, such as getting the answer correct or completing a task in a set time. You could also reward good communication, creativity or teamwork, instead of speed or being the first. Remind people to encourage each other and that it’s not about winning, but about taking part, working well as a team and having fun.
- Think about how people are tagged. If people may struggle to tag each other, or may be uncomfortable or sensitive to touch, you could use tag rugby Velcro belts and people need to pull off a Velcro tag to tag someone. You could also have people tag each other with a foam pool noodle. People could also work or play in pairs, with one person being the tagger, too.
- Make sure there’s a way to include everyone in this game or activity. If anyone doesn’t feel comfortable playing the game or taking part in the activity, let them take on another role instead. Some examples are timing, scorekeeping, playing or stopping music, writing down ideas, or refereeing.
All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.
If you enjoyed this activity, you could combine this activity with creating space habitats. Why not try our other space activities or run a space camp?