When you look up at the stars in the night sky, at first they may seem to be in random order. To help identify the position of stars in the sky, the ancient Greeks grouped stars to form patterns and images of people and animals. Some of these patterns are hard to see while other patterns are easy to spot, such as the three main stars that make up the belt of Orion and the stars that form the "big dipper." The "big dipper" technically is not a constellation, but together the stars make the shape of an identifiable object. With a pencil and a sketch pad, "connect the dots" by grouping stars that you see and make objects that are familiar.
Many planets, such as Mercury and Mars, and orbiting moons have surfaces that are riddled with craters. Chunks of stone and iron that drift through space, called meteors, are captured by the gravitational pull of heavenly bodies. This pulls them into the body's surface. In a large rectangular baking dish, mix a sticky paste of flour and water. Smooth the surface as best as possible using a ladle. Find several different size stones or rocks and drop them from different heights into the flour mixture to create "craters." Let the mixture dry. Use paints to color your heavenly body's surface. For example, the Earth's moon is gray, and Mars has a reddish tint due to oxidized iron in its soil.
The moon orbits, or goes around, the Earth. Over the course of an evening you can see the moon moving across the night sky. Since it moves relatively slowly, when you look up at the moon a few times an hour it is difficult to notice any change in position. To see more quickly that it is moving, find a night when the moon is just coming up over the horizon. On an outdoor table or picnic bench, look through an empty paper towel roll to see the moon. Use modeling clay to place under and on the sides of the paper towel roll to keep it from moving. Note the time on a clock. Every minute or two, look through the paper towel tube to see if the moon is still in view. When the moon has moved so that it is no longer visible through the tube, again look at the clock. Note the time it took for the moon to move that distance.
Find a large, tall cardboard box, such as one a refrigerator or piece of furniture comes packed in. Several smaller boxes can be taped together using wide packaging tape if you cannot find one single large box. Stand the box upright. It should be one or two feet taller than your child. Using a utility knife, cut a door and a window in the box. Tape a piece of clear plastic food wrap over the window. Tape pieces of cardboard cut from a smaller box together to form a triangle shape and place it on the top of the box, making a pointed top. Decorate your rocket with stars and an America flag. Think of a name for your rocket and write it on the side in big letters.
People may say that when they look up at a full moon they see the "man in the moon." The light and dark patterns created by sunlight falling on rocks, craters and mountains on the moon's surface may look like familiar shapes, such as a face. Place a blanket and a pillow on the ground outside on a night when the moon is full. With a pencil and a sketch pad, draw a face based on what you see looking at the moon.