Eimear,
Please review the activities in the module, where Draw a Constellation or Make a Star Lantern ask the children to use their mathematical awareness around the theme of stars.
The sensory activity you have mentioned
I would set up a darkened room with twinkling lights or glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling to create a night sky effect
seem more suitable to actual infant children, rather than Infants in the Irish primary school system. Similarly, soft star objects for tactile sense seems a bit too juvenile.
Note that the curriculum expects:
stars in Geography (Infants: identify and discuss the sun, the moon
and stars)
and the Sun in Science (recognise that the sun gives us heat and light, without which we could not survive and become aware of the dangers of looking directly at the sun in 1st class)
You could link stars to day and night with globes and models, or by having bright lights with dimmer lights near them to model the Sun ‘overpowering’ the much fainter stars.