What's in Your Night Sky?

Materials 

1. Shoeboxes for each child (no lids)
2. Scissors
3. Aluminum foil
4. Masking or duct tape
5. Photos of starry nights
6. Toothpicks
7. Small flashlights
8. Dark location

Instructions

1. Prepare shoeboxes by cutting a hole in the bottom of each one large enough for a hand to fit through. Cover each child's box tightly with a piece of foil and secure it on all four sides with tape. Mark the boxes with the children's names.
2. Show the children a variety of night sky photos and pictures. Ask the children to talk about the night sky.
3. Let the children make their own "night sky" using the foil-covered boxes.
4. Demonstrate how to poke holes in the foil over the opening in the box with a toothpick. Each poke represents a star. Then show them how to put a flashlight inside the box and project their stars in a dark spot.
5. Encourage the children to talk about patterns or shapes that they see in their skies, and what they see in the skies that their friends made.

Instructions

1. Cut out pictures of sixteen different bugs. Make two copies of each bug to
make two sets of identical bug pictures.
2. Glue one set of bugs to tagboard. Cut around the pictures to make game
pieces.
3. Glue the other set of bug pictures to an 11" x 14" piece of tagboard to make
a game board.
4. Laminate the game board and game pieces for durability and cut out.
5. Attach Velcro to the backs of the bug game pieces and to the bugs on the
game board.
6. Store the game pieces in a plastic zippered bag attached to the back of the
game board.
7. To do the activity, the child matches each bug game piece to the
corresponding bug on the game board.