Ursa Major and Ursa Minor! Yes, we’re making an indoor planetarium. Here’s a quick shot of BabyGirl crawling inside to join JediBoy:
This is a repurposed lawnmower box. We painted it black inside and out, leaving a white star on the front and a white shooting star on the back for decoration. We sewed on a black handkerchief for a door curtain. We sketched out JediBoy’s two favorite constellations in chalk on one end, punched small holes with an awl and inserted bulbs from a string of white lights.
Today we’ll choose some constellations for the other short end of the box, and the kids will decorate the ceiling and long walls using these:
So far, the kids absolutely love this. It has taken a place of honor in the living room, and the kids are often hiding or playing inside. The only thing I wish we’d done differently was to pick up a roll of black duct tape instead of using the white that we had on hand, because I didn’t realize that the tempera paint wouldn’t stick to the surface of the tape. It has been a tremendously fun project, and I expect that we’ll have a living room planetarium for many, many weeks to come!
