Summer With Stardust: 6 Cosmic Activities for Ages 3–6

After reading Stardust and You, children often ask the most beautiful questions:

“Did I really come from stars?”
“How did the stars get inside me?”
“Are flowers made of stardust too?”

Summer is the perfect season to continue that sense of wonder.

These simple, hands-on activities invite little learners to move, explore, and discover that they are connected to the world around them—just like the story reminds us.

1. Make a “Stardust Collection”

Go outside with a basket and collect tiny treasures:

• leaves

• flower petals

• smooth stones

• sticks

• feathers

When you get home, ask:

“Which of these things do you think shares stardust with us?”

Spoiler: all of them.

2. Create Your Own Supernova Art

The book introduces the idea that the elements that make us were created long ago in exploding stars.

Fold paper in half, drop washable paint inside, close it, and press.

Open it to reveal your own colorful “star explosion.”

Ask:

• What colors does your universe have?

• What might be created from this star?

3. Go on a Cosmic Color Hunt

Choose one color and look for it outside.

Blue sky. Green leaves. Yellow flowers.

Talk together:

“We’re all different colors and shapes—but we’re all made from the same universe.”

4. Build a Tiny Universe Tray

Fill a tray with:

• sand

• water

• rocks

• toy animals

• stars cut from paper

Invite open-ended storytelling:

“What happened first in your world?”

5. Read Under the Evening Sky

Bring Stardust and You outside before bedtime.

After reading, look up together and ask:

• Which star would you visit?

• What would you tell it?

• What do you think stars would say back?

6. Finish with a Wonder Question

At bedtime ask:

“What amazed you today?”

Children don’t need all the answers.

Sometimes wonder itself is the lesson.

This summer, keep following the story beyond the final page.