How to Make a Constellation Viewer for Kindergarten
Making your own constellation cards to view with your kindergarten class is a great way to teach students about constellations. Constellation charts are available for download online, and these charts let you easily make cards to fit into a homemade start viewer. Get students involved in the project by letting them punch holes in their cards with the help of an adult. Darken the room and watch as the stars appear on the ceiling or walls for students to see and identify.
Things You'll Need
- An empty oatmeal box (round)
- Black cardstock
- Compass
- Scissors
- LED flashlight
- Printable constellation charts
- Black poster board
- Masking tape
Instructions
-
-
1
Trace around the top of your LED flashlight in the center of the outside of the bottom of an oatmeal box. Use scissors or a utility knife to cut out the hole you drew. This hole should be large enough for the flashlight to fit it, but not be loose.
-
2
Remove the top of the empty oatmeal box and take out the center of the lid, leaving only the plastic ring. Trace around the plastic ring on the black cardstock. Make one circle for every constellation card you wish to make.
-
-
3
Cut out the circles and fit them, one at a time, into the plastic ring. Adjust each circle so that it fits snugly into the ring without any gaps around the edges.
-
4
Download and print out constellation charts from the Internet (see Resource). Lay one of the circles you cut over the constellation you wish to show and trace around it. Cut the circle you traced out of the constellation chart and lay it on the black circle.
-
5
Poke holes in the starts on the constellation circle, going through the constellation paper into and through the black paper as well.
-
6
Insert the black paper with the holes punched in it into the plastic ring from the oatmeal box lid. Place the lid on the oatmeal box and insert the LED flashlight into the bottom of the box through the hole you cut.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Turn out the lights in the classroom and shine the star viewer on the ceiling, the chalkboard or onto a black piece of poster board taped to the wall to see the constellation.
Let kindergarten students help with tracing the circles on the black card stock. Enlist parent volunteers to help with the poking of the holes.
Make one star viewer for each student if you have enough parent help. Let students decorate their star viewers with star stickers and pictures of constellations.
Resources
- Photo Credit Goodshoot/Goodshoot/Getty Images
