To start off our week of Space themed activities we're going to look no further than the sky. Summer time is a great time to do some serious star gazing, the skies are usually clear and filled with plenty of constellations.
Today we're making our own mini constellations with coffee cups, black paint and thumb tacks. Check it out...
top image via: Photo Bucket
Coffee Cup Constellations
materials:
empty paper coffee cup
black paint
paint brush
thumb tack
get to work:
1. Begin by painting the inside of the cup black.
2. After the paint has dried poke your constellation shape in the bottom of the cup.
3. Decorate the outside of the cup.
4. Hold the cup up to the light and look through the open end to see your constellation glow!
Here are some talking points you might want to bring up with your kids:
- Did you know that the constellations we see during the summer are different during the winter? This is because as the Earth revolves around the sun each year, certain stars are hidden from our view. Learn more here.
- Many of the constellations are named after old mythological creatures and people such as Hercules.
- The closest star to us is the sun. Although we often seem to forget that. In second place are (Proxima Centuri in the Southern Hemisphere and Barnard's Star in the Northern Hemisphere). Both of which are so dim you can't see them with the naked eye. Now Sirius, is the closest thing that can be seen by the naked eye, it's about 8.6 light years away.
*sorry the pictures are a little hard to see the detail of the constellations themselves, but trust me when you do it on your own, you'll see them!
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