Sometimes it is hard to recognize a constellation in the middle of a sea of stars. Help block out the clutter by letting your aspiring astronomer make her own constellation viewer out of a recycled paper tube.
What You Need:
What You Do
- Have your child decide which constellation she would like to make. Simple constellations that are easily seen in the night sky are the Big Dipper, Cassiopeia, Orion and Scorpio.
- Help her practice drawing the star pattern of her selected constellation on a sheet of paper.
- Show her how to trace the end of her paper towel roll on the sheet of black construction paper.
- Let her use a pencil to draw her constellation dots within the traced circle.
- Help your child fold the black circle -- dots of the constellation facing up -- over the top of the paper towel roll.
- Make sure the black paper fits snugly before securing with tape.
- Have your child use the pin to carefully poke holes in the black paper where her penciled dots are.
- For the final touch, let her write the name of her chosen constellation on the side of the paper towel roll.
- Have your child point the tube toward a light source. Let her look through her constellation viewer and admire her handiwork. Next time she stares at the night sky, see if she can spot her special constellation!
For even more fun, have your child create and name her own constellations. Set up a tube with paper, but let your child poke her own pattern of stars. Let her decide what her constellation reminds her of before choosing a name for it.
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