This activity is part of our 15 minute focus series. It introduces the idea of constellations, with a focus on learning the Big Dipper. Children will make a star map and a mini planetarium / constellation projector

Objective: children will be able to explain that you can find patterns in the stars that help you remember them.

Supplies and Prep

For intro: ladle or dipper, picture of the stars that make up the constellation, picture of the constellations Big Dipper and Little Dipper, pictures of Ursa Minor and Ursa Major (see below)

For star map: printed worksheets, 7 star stickers per kid (plus extras just in case), writing implement (pencil, marker, whatever)

For constellation projector: cardboard snack trays, push pins, a flashlight. Print the template, cut it apart, and tape one template on the bottom of each snack tray. Note: if you don’t have snack trays, we have used plastic margarine tubs or small cardboard boxes in the past.

The demo will work best if you can make your classroom dark – so have shades closed, and turn off light when needed. Test your flashlight options and projector in advance to make sure it works well. (See below.)
 

This free printable template document has the images you’ll use during the intro, and the worksheet for the constellation map, and the template for the projector.

Intro

I start with a few basic questions, like “when you look up in the sky in the night time, what do you see? Can you see stars in the day time? Actually, we see one star that is so close and so bright that it is hard to see all the other stars even though they’re still there. What do we call that star?”

The Constellation Story

Then I show them a picture of the night sky that includes the big dipper. (I have one in the template you can print, but if you have a screen handy, the photograph may display better on a screen than in the printout.)

I ask them if there are any particular stars they notice. Some of the children will immediately call out “the Big Dipper!” I help all the children notice the seven stars and talk about how people around the world have noticed that same group of stars for hundreds of years, and tell lots of different stories that help them remember that star pattern.

Some think it looks like a dipper. I hold up the ladle and ask them what we might use a dipper for. I show them a picture where the Big Dipper and Little Dipper are drawn out.

Then I tell them that some people call those constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor which means Big Bear and Little Bear. I show them a picture of the bears drawn out.

I help them notice the long tails, then ask “do bears have long tails??” I say “A long time ago, people told a story that there was a mother bear and a baby bear that were about to be attacked by a hunter, so a god picked up that baby bear by his little tail and swung him round and round over his head and then threw him up in the sky.” [mime this] “Then he picked up the mama bear and swung her round and round – that’s how their tails got stretched out – and threw her up in the sky and that’s where we still see her and the baby today.”

Constellation Map

Demo

I demo the projecct first: I show them the constellation map, and tell them we are going to put one star sticker on top of each star. We won’t put stickers on the circles in the Little Dipper. I show them how, counting as I do, so we all know we need 7 stars to make our constellation map.

Do

I hand out the constellation map worksheets, and the star stickers. They put on their seven stars, and count them.

Then I show them how I draw a line to connect them into the constellation. Then they draw their line. (Note: some kids were able to follow this idea, some drew random lines, some just drew on the dotted line I had that showed how to find Polaris by looking at the North Star, so I removed that from the template.)

Constellation Projector

Demo

First introduce push pins and demo how to hold them safely. Show them if you touch the tip gently it doesn’t hurt, but tell them if you pressed it, it would hurt!

Take a snack tray and show them the template on it. Tell them that we will do one. We’ll poke a hole through every single circle on the template. Demo how you poke the pin in, and then wiggle, wiggle, wiggle to make it a little bigger. Turn the tray over and show them how they can see all the holes you just poked and that they are in the shape of the constellations.

Then, turn off the light. Set a flashlight to shine on the ceiling, then hold the tray / constellation projector over it (with the template side on top). Show how the tray blocks most of the light, but the light shines through where I made the holes, and we can see the constellation on the ceiling!

Test this ahead of time with various flashlights! Many are not bright enough to give a good view of the stars. Cell phone flashlights are really focused beams, so if you hold the snack tray close to the phone, you don’t get a good view, but if you hold it a ways away, you’ll be able to make it work.

Do

Pass out the trays with templates, then pass out the pushpins. Remind them that they’ll make a hole through every circle. Push the pin in, then wiggle wiggle wiggle to make the hole a little bigger.

As the faster kids finished, I would have them hold them up so I could see the inside of the tray and I would point out all the constellations and show that they had gotten all the stars they needed to make each constellation.

My group of four year olds has a range of motor skills and a range of instruction following skills, but every single one of them handled this really well! They all made holes successfully, making one where each circle was, and not making extras. When I checked them, a few had missed one circle, but that was it.

Then, we tested each child’s project with my flashlight. (I have nine students. If I had more, I either might not test, or might have multiple flashlights to pass around.)

Optional Extensions

I was able to do this whole activity in about 20 minutes (with 2 adults who could help hand things out). If you have less time, you could do just one of the projects. If you have more time, here are ways to extend the lesson.

Science – Navigation

In between the map and the projector activity, you could show how you can use the Big Dipper to find the North Star / Polaris. And, how you can use Cassiopeia to confirm that you’ve found it. Show how from Polaris you can find the Little Dipper.

Talk about how people from many cultures throughout history have used the North Star to navigate. The North Star is always in the north in the night sky, so if you travel toward it, you are moving north.

You could share more examples of this, such as the story that when there were African people enslaved in the United States, they escaped and followed the North Star to travel to the northern United States where they could be free. (The song / spiritual Follow the Drinking Gourd refers to using the Big Dipper to help them find their way north.)

Other Culture’s Myths

Many cultures have their own stories about these stars. Some Native American stories include the Big Bear and Little Bear, but the three stars in the handle of the dipper are seen as hunters in pursuit of a bear, rather than as the tails of the bear.

Here are just a few places to find other tales: Bears in the Sky, the Myths of Ursa Major, and the Many Legends of Ursa Major.

Books and Songs

You could sing Twinkle Twinkle (with optional additional verses); or Follow the Drinking Gourd, or this camp song about the Big Dipper. (Or watch this sweet though scientifically impossible song about the Little Dipper.)

The Big Dipper by Branley (video preview) is a book that focuses on this constellation.

For other book recommendations, and for lots of other hands-on activities for learning about the stars, check out my full lesson plan on Stars and Constellations.