Want to create a night sky in your room? This activity is a quick and easy way to bring some stars inside. DK offers some constellation patterns and general info.
After you make your flashlight constellations, you can keep on learning about stars and constellations online, as well as research space exploration and innovation like we do in our museum camps.
Find inspiration for your flashlight constellation in the image above (Milky Way Over Monument Valley by Dinah Jasensky), which was part of the museum’s Far Out: Our Solar System exhibition in the winter of 2018/2019.
Let’s get started!
Materials
- Black paper (regular paper can be painted black if needed)
- Flashlight
- Pencil
- Scissors
- Hole puncher or toothpicks
Directions
- Trace around the outside of your flashlight, so you know how big your constellations can be.
- Use your pencil to mark where you want your “stars” to be inside the circle.
- Using your hole punch or toothpicks, poke holes through the black paper where your stars are marked. Then cut a square around your sketched circle, so you can hold the paper up to the flashlight.
- Line the sketched circle up with the outside of the flashlight.
- Turn off the lights or find a dark part of the house to shine your constellation.
FYIs
This activity is one of many that may be done at an i.d.e.a. Museum Wonder Camp or during a special event, such as Far Out: Our Solar System Family Day.
During camps, gallery educators would tie the art activity to a lesson featuring space exploration and the invention of telescopes and space satellites.
This activity was put together by Gallery Educator Rebecca Cameron, who is a full-time artist and former teacher. Rebecca specializes in galaxy themed artwork. Find her on Instagram, Tik Tok and YouTube as @bexxfineart.