Travis has been a bit afraid of the dark lately, and we’re working on making his room feel safe at night. These glowing star pictures were the perfect activity to make the dark less scary!

First, we needed to paint backgrounds for a night sky, on sturdy watercolor paper. I suggested a mix of blue and black, but Travis insisted on using only black for his backdrop. “Because I made it too late, Mom! It’s not twilight, it’s pitch black.” I couldn’t argue with that!

We left our backdrops to dry while he was at school. When he returned, I set up a page from Usborne’s Big Book of Stars and Planets showing constellations. We selected Orion, and I had him count the stars in each portion (the belt, the shoulders) as I added a drop of glue for each.

Affix a glow-in-the-dark star to correspond to each point.

To finish each picture, we drew lines in white chalk connecting the stars.

Now we had beautiful starry pictures for his wall! Make sure to leave a bright light source near the pictures until just before bedtime, then turn them off and watch the room glow.