Mommy Nature: Wishing Stars

Homemade Stars

I remember the first time I saw a meteor shower. I was a few years older than my daughter is now. At the time, I didn’t know anything about meteor showers. I just thought of stars as something mysterious that listened to and granted the most heart-felt wishes. As poem goes, “I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight.” When I was young, I made many wishes on the first star I saw at night (which I now realize was most likely the planet, Venus). I also knew to wish upon falling stars, but had never seen one until an end of summer slumber party at a friend’s house many years ago (during a meteor shower).

Of course during sleepovers, children don’t really sleep; so a few of my friends and I were looking out a window very early in the morning when we saw the first one. We couldn’t believe our eyes! We knew falling stars were rare, but within a minute, we saw another one, and another one, and… We spent the next several hours surveying the night sky. We saw so many falling stars, we lost track of how many. We ran out of wishes to wish! It seemed like a truly magical night. I just knew I was going to get my greatest wish (I had wished for a horse!)! I learned years later that the slumber party must have been on the night of the Perseid meteor shower in August.

My daughter is too young to stay awake and watch a meteor shower, but if you are interested and have a child a little older than mine, one of the more prolific meteor showers of the year will be best viewed this Saturday evening around 9:00 or 10:00pm. The Geminid meteor shower (named because it radiates from the Gemini constellation) should produce around 120 meteors an hour falling from the sky. It is the best meteor shower for younger children since most showers are best viewed after midnight, while this one is best viewed before midnight. I can’t wait to enjoy this magical evening with my daughter in another year or two. After all, I did get my wish a few years after my first experience with “falling stars.”

While I don’t want to keep my daughter up too late, I can still help encourage her excitement and wonder for stars by telling stories about the constellations. And now that it gets dark so early, we can spend some time outside telling tales and looking at the stars before her bedtime. You can too! To start, find the Gemini constellation (where the meteor shower will appear to originate) by first locating the Orion constellation. Orion is the constellation with the brightest star in the night sky. It will be in the East. You’ll recognize it by the three bright stars that make up Orion’s belt. Just west of Orion and a little closer to the horizon is the Gemini constellation. It’s easy to identify by the two bright stars that represent the heads of the twins. These twins are known as Castor and Pollux from Greek mythology. They were very close brothers who were known to help sailors find their way across the seas, and according to myth, they even saved shipwrecked sailors.

Explain to your child that a long time ago, people noticed patterns in the stars that didn’t change (whereas the moon and planets move through an orbit, changing their positions throughout the night). These patterns were named from the stories they told. Ask your child if he or she can see shapes in the stars too. They don’t have to conform to known constellations. Just let your child use his or her imagination.

Since I like to combine hands-on activities with nature education, my daughter and I made our own constellations. It’s easy! Find a small lamp with a lamp shade. Take a few pieces of black construction paper and wrap it around the lamp shade. Tape as many pieces of paper together as you need to cover the shade. Then, take the paper off the lamp and untape one side. Flatten the paper out on a table and let your child make stars in groups or clusters using a white crayon. Your child can make them into patterns or outlines of objects. The nice thing is, it doesn’t have to be perfect! After your child is done, place the paper on a towel and use a push pin to make holes where each star is located. After you are done, tape the paper around the lamp again and turn out all the lights in the room except for the lamp. Then, let your child name the constellations. It’s that easy!

Enjoy the light show, whether it’s from inside or outside your house!