Saturday, March 28, 2015

How to make your own constellations

We love looking at the night sky.  If your child is interested in space, or you would like them to be, here is a fun project that brings the heavenly bodies a little closer home. It was also a good way to sneak in some fine motor practice.

Bring the heavens a little closer earth with this fun upcycle project about constellations.

Materials:

A polystyrene (styrofoam) tray--Ours come with squash.
Tooth picks
Pictures of the constellations in your night sky


Bring the heavens a little closer earth with this fun upcycle project about constellations.

To get our constellation pictures, I used the Star Chart app on my phone.  Have you sen this?  You can just point your phone at the sky and it fills in the pictures the constellations represent.  Snap a screen shot, and you have a picture of the exact constellation you are studying.

If you don't have access to Star Chart, you can do a quick image search, and come up with a printable picture. (If you are using this in a group setting check the copy rights.)

Then just print out the photo, and lay it it over the tray.

Bring the heavens a little closer earth with this fun upcycle project about constellations.

Use a tooth pick to punch out the designs. 

Bring the heavens a little closer earth with this fun upcycle project about constellations.

After doing a few real constellations, my kids decided to "make up" some constellations of their own.

Bring the heavens a little closer earth with this fun upcycle project about constellations.

Holding the trays against the window gives the effect of stars shining in the night sky.

Bring the heavens a little closer earth with this fun upcycle project about constellations.

Bring the heavens a little closer earth with this fun upcycle project about constellations.

This post is part of the 60 Day Junk Play Challenge.  Be sure to check out the other great activities being done with items from the junk pile, and try a few with your own kids!




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