34 August 2014 sky & telescope
Te l e s c o p e
Astronomy for Children
memories is of watching
a lunar eclipse with my father. I must have been about 2
or 3 because I was wearing my favorite yellow pajamas
under my coat. Despite that experience, when I fi rst
hosted star parties as an adult astronomer I used to feel
that children under the age of 6 or 7 rarely gained much
out of the experience, mostly because they did not under-Have some fun engaging with children ages 5 and younger
at your next star party with some tools and tips in hand.
One of my earliest
at the
Alice Altair Enevoldsen
stand how to use a telescope. Often these youngsters pre-
tended to see something through the telescope even when
their eye was clearly not aligned with the eyepiece. I have
met many amateur astronomers who have faced similar
challenges with very young children at star parties.
Yet we should not discount this young audience.
Preschooler and toddler brains are growing fast and are