Learning about Constellations: Free Printable Pack
When I was a kid, I had these awesome glow-in-the-dark stars all over my room. I was just sure I was going to grow up to be an astronaut (more on why I am *not* one coming in a later post- I know you are on the edge of your seats for that story!). When I started planning our space unit, the same stars were the first thing to make their way into my shopping cart.
NOTE: This article was written by Heather–the previous owner of Only Passionate Curiosity.
I am too type-A to let my (poor) children just stick the stars haphazardly on the walls. Nope, I insisted we learn about constellations first!
For this lesson, all you’ll need is a pack of stars, some “stick-em” and our free printable.
I printed off the flashcards for the kids first. You can do them front to back if you’d like, but after I did that, I regretted not leaving them separate so we could play memory with them. Then, using the side of the card with just the stars, I had the kids build the constellations on the wall to match the cards.
Once they had finished building, I pulled out our book on constellations, and we talked about how many years ago, people would look to the stars, see pictures, and tell stories. I told them a few of the stories, and then I handed them the picture cards, and let them see if they could match the constellations they had built to the pictures they represented.
After that, I handed out the notebooking pages I made. You can use these pages in a couple ways. You can have your child illustrate a story for the constellation, and then write their own. They can either write the historical story, or make up their own. Science-minded kiddos can draw the constellation, and add in other nearby stars (use a star map for reference) and then write about when and where that constellation can be seen.
You can also use these cards to have kids race each other to see who can build the constellation fastest or as guides to look for the stars in the night sky. The possibilities are endless!
So it’s not free? The link takes me to the shop.
Hi Tara! Thanks for catching that- it was supposed to be (and was for a long time- I have no idea how or when I messed that up!) but the link has now been reset so you can add it to the cart for free 🙂
Have a good day!
Hi, could you tell me how many constellations are included in this packet? Thanks!
12 🙂