Gravity is attraction between masses. Near Earth, down points towards Earth’s centre. A person on the far side of Earth is not upside down in their own local view. Gravity also bends the paths of moons and planets. An orbit needs sideways motion as well as gravity. Safety: Only a soft sock ball and a low drop onto a cushion. No hard or heavy objects. Stop: Stop after one low drop and the diagrams. Do not throw, swing, or launch the ball.

Materials: Paper; Pencil; Soft sock ball; Cushion placed on a table 1. Draw a large Earth circle with a centre dot. Put a person at the top, bottom, left and right. Make each person’s feet touch the surface and their head point away from the centre. 2. At each person draw a down arrow towards the centre. Add one up arrow away from the centre. Turn the paper so each person is at the top; check that local down still means towards Earth. 3. Adult holds a soft sock ball about 10 cm above a cushion on a stable table, then lets go once. Learner records where the ball went. Keep hands and feet away from the drop area. 4. Draw a Moon path around Earth and an Earth path around the Sun in separate boxes. Add inward gravity arrows and sideways motion arrows. Label the paths schematic, not size, speed, or distance models. 5. Finish: Down means ___. The same pulling force keeps ___ around ___ and ___ around ___. Explain why page-bottom is not a universal direction in space. Done: Complete four inward arrows, the drop observation, and both gravity-and-orbit labels. Proof: Keep the Earth diagram and observation sentence. Record if the adult supplied arrow directions or the orbit sentence. Stop: Stop after one low drop and the diagrams. Do not throw, swing, or launch the ball.