Sky Experiment

All you need is black paper, white paper and a pencil.

First discuss what the children see during the night sky and record their ideas. Many of my kids said things like, “The Moon is bright” or “I see lots of stars!”

After you have talked about what they see, introduce the idea that there are more stars than you can count and that they are unevenly spaced out. My kids liked to learn what the word “random” meant in science because most of them use it in their daily language as slang!

Now it’s time to make the night sky.

I let my kids punch holes in their black paper for 30 seconds. They were sitting on our reading rug so the pencil had a place to go once it went into the paper.

Let them go at it. It is funny to watch and it really gets the kids excited!

Once the time is up – hang the night sky pictures in a window or bright location. Talk about how the stars are so easy to see against the black sky.

The next day we repeated the process with the day sky and white paper.

We spent a long time talking about how the stars are always in the sky, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

At the end of our sky experiment – the kids were truly shocked at how the stars on the day sky are almost hidden even when you are up close to the paper.

Do you have something to say? Please write a testimonal today! I'd love to hear from you.

Wanting more ideas? Sign up for my free teaching newsletter and get ideas sent right to your email box.

New teacher? Struggling teacher? Download my free eBook that's packed with ideas, tips and tricks to get you through a rough year.

Have questions? Contact me about this sky experiment in your classroom.

Just need more ideas for your classroom, try Sites for Teachers. They have great ideas!

New! Comments

Have your say about what you just read! Leave me a comment in the box below.