Children illustrate why we have meteor showers and meteorites as told through the Native American story, “Coyote and the Dancing Stars” and the accompanying science story. Illustration detail will depend on the age of the children.

Ask the children to think about the stories they just heard.

• What happened in the story?
• What does it explain about things we may see in our night sky?

Invite the children to illustrate why we see meteors — or one aspect of the story — as told in “Coyote and the Dancing Stars.”

As an alternative, have older children work individually or in groups to illustrate “Coyote and the Dancing Stars” and then connect it to events in the science story (for example, coyote falling to the ground could connect with the meteor shooting across the screen in the science story). There is lots of room for imagination and creativity in making the connections between the stories! Each stage can be done in a “panel” format so that, when complete, there are parallel representations of the meteoroids, meteors, meteor showers, and meteorites. Illustration detail will depend upon the age of the child.

Invite the children to create and illustrate their "own" story of why we see meteors.

Expand the types of materials available to include paint, tissue paper, glue, scissors, etc., so the children can make mosaics, mobiles, or sculptures to illustrate the stories.

Last updated
January 9, 2007

Who?
Ages 5 and up

How Long?
30 minutes or longer

What's Needed?

• • Crayons, colored pencils, or markers
• • Paper or Poster board

Connections to the National Science Education Standard(s)

Standards A&D (grades K–4):  Communicate through writing or illustration an understanding that objects in the sky have movements that can be observed and described.

Standards A&D (grades 5–8):  Communicate through writing or illustration an understanding that  the solar system includes objects such as asteroids and comets.