I was delighted to conduct a ‘We Are Stars’ drawing workshop during Science Week. The workshop was designed to introduce children to the Orion constellation and its nebula. This group of stars and its special stellar nursery are visible to the naked eye over the winter. The goal was to spark their interest in astronomy and encourage them to explore the night sky.
The workshop was also intended to open a window on how significant stars are, particularly our sun, which looks after us here on Earth, and how stars create the elements within us all.
Orion Maps
To engage the children in finding Orion for themselves, I took them on a journey to create their own maps of this star pattern and its very unique nebula. Many might also need to familiarise themselves with the North, South, East, and West. However, using their knowledge of local landmarks, they got the general direction to hunt for Orion.
I drew, and they followed, placing their dots correctly. Over one of the pencil dots, we used a red crayon to pop out Betelgeuse. Using damp, tiny fingers, we smudged the central dot in the giant’s sword, revealing the star-making region. Every child notated their maps.
M42
After that, I showed some of my drawings of the nebula, which their smudge represented. There were several ooohs and aahs as I told them that baby stars were being born within this massive cloud of gas and dust. They were attentive when I said the reddish star in their maps was at the end of its life. This fact worried them slightly until they realised how far away it was.
We switched over to black paper with some chalk and pre-loaded cotton balls. Everyone drew four dots in the middle of their pages. (I know there are more stars, but I wanted to keep this part of the workshop as simple as possible). Looking at M42 on the smart board, I pointed out precise shapes within the cloud. In any drawing, be it a face, a body, a tree or a jellyfish, recognising shapes helps in the correct reproduction of the subject.
The cotton balls were pre-loaded with soft pastels to recreate the nebula with some realism. With these grey-tinted pieces of cotton, we drew a C shape around the four stars. Then, we focused on the shapes coming out of the C on all parts. The cotton balls help glide the pastel over the page softly—soft as a gas cloud in space. If we used pastels directly, we would have lines and edges, which would not really work well. The cotton balls were a new drawing method for them, a challenge they enjoyed.
Cotton Ball Nebulae
Seeing the children’s efforts come to life as they drew their nebulae was a joy. The fact that they all captured the general shape was enough. We added a small amount of white chalk to the curve of the C and blended it into the grey gases. This represented the light generated by new stars as they awakened to their long lives. Some wonderfully dramatic stellar nurseries were created and notated. Their standard of writing was excellent, and I made sure to acknowledge and praise their efforts.
I explained that nebulae and most other night sky objects are a variety of shades of grey, not multicoloured, as shown in magazines and websites. The colours are added to show different gases within the objects. However, in 2010, for Hubble’s 20th anniversary, I was given an enormous colour photograph of the Carina Nebula. I brought it along to provide the children with some idea of how big nebulae are.
Nebulae are Enormous
The children helped unroll the print and hold it so we could see it clearly. I explained what we were looking at as simply as I could. Then, I placed a small jelly sweet on the print. I continued to state that our entire solar system, with all its planets, moons, asteroids, comets, etc., could fit inside the jelly sweet compared to the nebula where stars are born. I added sheep, dogs, and other animals as they were more local. To ensure they understood, I asked a few children to describe what the sweet represented compared to the nebula. Their answers were spot-on and succinct.
In the new year, I intend to show these great students M42 through my telescope, making it all real and further sparking their interest in the pristine dark skies of Co Mayo.
Here is a previous blog about M42
A few images from the workshops
