Games to Gaze By

You can play these games while your eyes search the night sky.

I'M GOING TO THE MOON

In this far-out version of "I'm going on a picnic," the goal is to remember everything your family wants to bring on their lunar vacation. The first player begins with something that starts with the letter "a" ("I'm going to the moon and bringing an astronaut"). The second player repeats the first item and adds one that starts with the letter "b" ("I'm going to the moon and bringing an astronaut and a basketball, to experiment with gravity"), the third repeats the first two items and adds one that starts with the letter "c," and so on, until all 26 letters in the alphabet have been used.

CONSTELLATION FORMATION

Centuries ago, people made sense of the night sky by finding pictures in the stars, from scales and dippers to Hercules and a bear. Challenge your family to find and name their own constellations, such as the Great Hot Dog and the Electric Guitar.