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Volunteering at Scouts is changing to help us reach more young people

Volunteering is changing to help us reach more young people

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Cool crafty constellations

Learn about the night sky and see which constellations you can make.
Plan a session with this activity

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You’ll need

  • Rulers
  • Glue sticks
  • Star shaped stickers
  • Letter stickers
  • Glitter
  • Black card
  • Metallic pens
  • Pencils

Before you begin 

  • Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. There's also more guidance to help you carry out your risk assessment, including examples. Don’t forget to make sure all young people and adults involved in the activity know how to take part safely.
  • Make sure you’ll have enough adult helpers. You may need some parents and carers to help if you’re short on helpers 

Running this activity  

  1. Gather everyone in a circle and ask if anyone knows what a constellation is. 
  2. Tell everyone that constellations are officially recognised patterns in the night sky that help astronomers divide the sky into sections. There are 88 constellations and 56 of them can be seen from the UK, but you can’t always see them all year round. 
  3. Ask young people to choose a constellation image to copy for their design. It could be their zodiac sign, such as Aries, Taurus or Pisces, or it may be a constellation they really like. 
  4. Everyone should take a piece of black card. 
  5. Arrange your sticker stars onto the black card, so they’re in the right positions. 
  6. Move the stars if they need adjusting to make the correct shape, then stick them done. 
  7. Lightly rule a pencil line between the stars to join them up, then use a metallic pen to draw dotted lines over the pencil to turn them into constellations. 
  8. You can add the name of the constellation to the background using stickers or a metallic pen. Before adding the stickers onto the background, arrange them together to see how long each word is, or make sure to write the word in pencil first. 
  9. Rub off any pencil lines if they are visible.  
  10. You could add some smaller-sized stars, glitter or space-based stickers as decoration.  
  11. Once finished, put all your pictures together to form the night sky and see which constellations you can recognise. 

Reflection

This activity was all about looking at constellations. Do you have a favourite constellation?

All the constellations are meant show a picture, such as a lion or a fish. Do you think it’s easy or hard to tell what they are? If you could create a constellation, what would your picture be?

Did it make you more interested in the stars? Will you try and spot a constellation next time you see the stars? You could show somebody else your favourite constellations too or make more constellation pictures to build up a whole night sky.

Safety

All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.

Glue and solvents

Always supervise young people appropriately when they’re using glue and solvent products. Make sure there’s plenty of ventilation. Be aware of any medical conditions that could be affected by glue or solvent use and make adjustments as needed.

Before starting this activity, you could hide images of the constellations around your meeting place for young people to find as a ‘Star search’.

  • If anyone needs help or struggles with fine motor skills, give them the opportunity to work in pairs, with a young leader or an adult volunteer. Alternatively, swap out the items for something easier to handle.
  • People who struggle with making choices could find all the options a bit overwhelming, so they might need extra support or to work with a young leader/volunteer to be able to create their artwork.
  • Anyone who struggles with creating a design could be given paper with a pre-drawn constellation that they can glue or stick craft materials onto.
  • If anyone needs support in using craft items, allow them to work with someone else who can help them.

All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.

Cubs Artist Activity Badge
Beavers Creative Activity Badge
Beavers Space Activity Badge
Cubs Astronomer Activity Badge

Once you’ve made your constellations, you could plan to look for them and go stargazing, either outside your meeting place or to a local observatory.

Let young people bring in a photo of their own constellation or let them choose their own constellation.