#1784. Painting the constellations

other, level: all
Posted Wed May 31 20:34:14 PDT 2000 by Krystal Dedmon (Krded@aol.com).
Walters Elementary, Walters Oklahoma
Materials Required: Black butcher paper, glow in the dark paint, picture of star constellations
Activity Time: 1-2 days
Concepts Taught: star constellations

As a part of a school wide unit on space, my third grade class created an observatory in our classroom. The first think you will do is take two large pieces of black butcher paper and tape them together. This will represent the sky so however big or small you want to make it is up to you. Then using a picture that shows the constellations have your students use the glow in the dark paint to create the constellations. We tried to paint them on the paper as they would appear in the sky. Once every student has painted and labeled a constellation, tape your sky to the ceiling. We used several black shower curtains to create walls for our observatory. Then turn out the lights. The kids loved it. They were eager to go out and find their constellation in the real sky!