For Everyone
For Parents
For Teachers
Activities
High in the Sky
Make starry art projects and paper planes.
Materials
- Paint
- Pie tin
- Star-shaped cookie cutters
- Scissors
- Sponge (cut into a star shape)
- Tissue paper
- Glitter
- Shoe box
- Cutting tool (for adult only)
- Tape
- Flashlight
- Chalk
- Black construction paper
- Pencil or push pin (to be used with supervision)
Directions
1. Make starry wrapping paper with your child. Pour paint into a pie tin, dip star-shaped cookie cutters and sponges into the paint, then make prints on tissue paper. You may want to sprinkle some glitter on the wet paint. The next time you need wrapping paper, you will have some on hand!
2. Make a night sky nightlight with a shoebox and a flashlight. Cut the bottom out of the shoebox. Cut a rectangle of black construction paper that is slightly bigger than the bottom of the shoebox. Have your child use white chalk to draw a "constellation picture" on the black paper-it can be an animal or a person or anything your child wishes. Your child may want to write the name of her or his constellation on the drawing. Tape the picture onto the bottom of the shoebox, with the drawing facing out. Supervise as your child uses a sharpened pencil or push pin to poke holes along the lines of the drawing. Make the room as dark as possible and shine a flashlight through the shoebox to light up your child's constellation.
3. Does your child know how to make paper airplanes? This may be a good time to learn! Instructions for making a wide variety of planes and helicopters are available on many Web pages.
Talk About It
If possible, go outside after dark with your child and look up at the night sky. Talk about what you see. Sing or recite familiar songs and rhymes together about stars and moon, for example, "Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight./ I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight." At the library, look for sky-related books that interest your child: books about space exploration or pioneers in flight, fantasy stories about people with wings, or folktales about the moon, the Milky Way, and constellations.
Related Books
Nobody Owns the Sky: The Story of Brave Bessie Coleman by Reeve Lindbergh
There Was a Bold Lady Who Wanted a Star by Charise Mericle Harper
Wings by Christopher Myers
Age Range: 4-6
Skills/Subjects:
- Creative Expression
- Fine Motor, Following Directions
- Language and Literacy Development
Related Episodes:
