Purpose
Help children feel Heavenly Father’s love for them by teaching them about one of His creations: the stars.
Activity Suggestion
Invite someone who knows about stars to come talk about stars, what they are, the different types of stars, and how stars form constellations. If possible, visit a planetarium or observatory.
Consider playing one or both of the following games:
- Form a constellation:
- Choose a constellation you know. Help the children to physically form that constellation pattern by directing each child to stand in the place of a star.
- Consider tracing the shape of the constellation on the floor with string so the children can see the shape they made.
- Shooting or falling stars:
- Have the children stand spread out in an open space.
- Children will pretend to be a shooting star or a falling star. Call out a characteristic or description of shooting or falling stars by identifying descriptions of the children. Children who match the description of falling stars will sit down, while those who match the description of shooting stars will briefly run around the room and then return to their place. For example, the caller could say:
- “Everyone wearing white is now a falling star.” (Any children wearing white sit down.)
- “If you have two siblings, you are now a shooting star.” (Those children run around the room and back to their place.)
- Continue to call out other descriptions until all children have been changed to a shooting or falling star at least once.
Please adapt activities as necessary to ensure all individuals are able to participate, belong, and contribute.
Adaptation Ideas
- Obtain a simple constellation map. Help the children pick out their favorite constellation and then make it by using items such as string and stars made of paper, tracing paper, cut-up straws, magnets, or other craft materials. Invite the children to try to find their constellation in the sky that night.
- Conduct the following experiment to show why stars appear to twinkle.
- Supplies: sheet of metal foil, large glass bowl filled with water, flashlight or other portable light, pen.
- Fold the foil in half. With the pen, randomly poke holes in the foil.
- Mold the foil around the outside of the bowl on one side.
- Turn down the lights. Shine the flashlight through the foil and into the water in the bowl.
- Stir the water a little. It should look like the “stars” (holes in the foil) are twinkling, even though the holes are in fact not moving. The moving water, representing Earth’s atmosphere, is moving, and that is why stars look like they twinkle.
- Invite the children to share what they learned when they go home. They could invite their families to repeat today’s activity later at home.
- Service idea: From the activity about stars, invite the children to choose something to teach or share with their family at home.
Discussion
Encourage children to talk about how what they are learning can help them and others grow closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Discussions can take place before, during, or after the activity and should last just a few minutes. You could ask questions like the following:
- How does learning about the stars help you to know more about Heavenly Father?
- Psalm 147:4 tells us that Heavenly Father knows the name of every star. If He cares that much about the stars, how much do you think He cares about you, His child?