It can feel funny sometimes to teach a baby about celestial objects – the stars, the moon, planets – because they are rarely awake to see nighttime! Especially here in the summer, Veronika is asleep long before stars come out or the moon shines.

If your child also sleeps before dark, have fun pointing out these night objects in books instead! Today, instead of reading the words, I sang star and moon poems as we turned each page of a favorite book.

When we came to a star, I pointed and sang:

Twinkle twinkle little star

How I wonder what you are.

Up above the world so high,

Like a diamond in the sky.

Twinkle twinkle little star

How I wonder what you are.

And here’s a rhyme to go with the moon page:

I see the moon

And the moon sees me

As is floats so high

Over mommy and me

I see the stars

And the stars see me

As they shine in the sky

Over Daddy and me

You can also point out stars wherever you may have them around the house. Veronika is transfixed by our nightlight.

We tried going outside just before bedtime, but the sky was indeed still light.

But then wouldn’t you know it; an unusually fussy bedtime had Veronika up later than usual, and look what was peeking at us just before she slept.

Meanwhile, we’ll wait for the impending shorter days of autumn and winter, when I can truly take her out to marvel at these wonders of the night sky.