I would use the Stars activity set in my classroom. I teach first class and am always trying to think of ways to make learning playful, engaging and fun. This activity is inherently playful and provides scope for integration with subjects such as drama, art and literacy.
I would begin the topic through the medium of art. We would look at Van Gogh’s starry night painting and try to guess how many stars there are. We would recreate this painting in our own way with paint. I would ask children to look out on a clear night and try to count how many stars they can see.
I would then show them some real-life photographs of the stars taken by telescope. We would again discuss the amount of stars we can see.
As part of our reflection, I would show the children the videos on how many stars there are in the sky. They love a bit of closure on our open-ended/investigative discussions!
If children were interested in more, I would bring in the idea of constellations. We would try to pick out patterns in a starry sky image ourselves first; “Can anyone trace the dots to make a picture?” I would provide them with a print out of the stars to allow them to have a go at tracing them.
I would then show them a few examples of constellations that can be seen from Ireland at the moment. We would spend time listening to the stories of the constellations. I would challenge them to go out at night and have a look for one.
I would bring in marshmallows and toothpicks. We would spend time trying to recreate some constellations or make our own (before eating up our sweet stars afterwards).