Constellation Fruit Gummies

Today’s astronomy lesson is a tasty one.  Fruity, to be exact.  These Constellation Fruit Gummies give kids a chance to identify their constellations with star shaped fruit gummies, made from scratch.  Plus, there’s a free printable…  It makes a perfect snack for that after-schooling STEM learning session.  This post contains affiliate links.

Constellation Fruit Gummies give kids the chance to learn about astronomy with a fruity homemade snack.  Perfect for STEM afterschooling & home schooling.

How to Eat & Learn

To do this activity, print out the free Constellation Fruit Gummies Printable and make the fruit gummies.

Constellation Printable

In the Constellation Fruit Gummies Printable you’ll find 8 different star patterns, chosen for their visibility in the sky and for their notoriety. Oh and for how many stars they have.  Sagittarius is a pretty cool looking constellation, but your kiddo would never eat dinner because there are so many stars in it.

  • Ursa Major (The Great Bear)
  • The Big Dipper
  • Ursa Minor (Lesser Bear) which is home to the North Star
  • Orion (The Hunter)
  • Canis Major (The Great Dog)
  • Taurus (The Bull)
  • Gemini (The Twins)
  • Scorpio (The Scorpion)

Constellation Fruit Gummies Printable Left Brain Craft Brain

In addition to the gummy play pages, you’ll see a summary page with a drawing of the constellation to help kids envision that it’s a bear, a bull, etc.  Oh, and I highly recommend either laminating the printable or covering them with plastic wrap.  Don’t do as I did and assume that a regular print out is fine.  You’ll have black gummies.  Not yummy at all…

Playing Constellation Gummies Left Brain Craft Brain

Now then there’s the Big Dipper.  I learned something while compiling these printables.  The Big Dipper isn’t technically a constellation.  Since it’s actually a part of Ursa Major (The Great Bear), it is an asterism.  An asterism is what astronomers call interesting star patterns that aren’t constellations.  I decided to include it because it’s often the first (and sometimes the only) star pattern that kiddos can easily find.

Constellation Fruit Gummies Recipe

  • 2 cups fruit juice (I used peach mango for a yellowish tone.  Fruit / Veggie blends work well too.)
  • 4 packets Knox Gelatin (other brands are fine, check package size if using a different brand)
  • Honey to taste
  • Small star cookie or fondant cutter (mine is ~2/3″) {affiliate}
  1. Pour 1 1/2 cups of juice into a small sauce pan.  Heat over medium heat until it reaches a gentle boil.
  2. While juice heats, pour remaining 1/2 cup of the juice into a small bowl.  Add gelatin and let bloom for five minutes.
  3. Add gelatin to heated juice and stir until fully dissolved.
  4. Take a quick taste of the juice mixture.  Is it sweet enough for you?  Add honey and stir until it is.
  5. Pour mixture into 9″ x 13″ pan.  This is bigger than many of my gummy recipes because you want the stars to be thin.  Thick stars means they’ll fill up before they learn many constellations…
  6. Chill for 1-2 hours and remove from pan by pulling out gummy in one piece by running a knife along edges.  Then place on a cutting board and cut into stars using your star cutter.  The remaining non-star scraps can be cup up into pieces and eaten.
  7. Store in refrigerator for up to 3-4 days.

More Space Play & Learn Ideas

Looking for some more outer space play & learn activities?  Here are some shared by the Love to Learn Linky crew of bloggers.

Space Play Left Brain Craft Brain

And here are this week’s posts from my Love to Learn Linky co-hosts!

20+ Humpty Dumpty Inspired Activities from One Time Through

20 Learning Activities with Q-Tips from Totschooling

15+ Fun Alphabet Learning Activities from A Little Pinch of Perfect

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Love to Learn Linky

Now it’s time for some more links! I hope you’ll join me and a few of my friends for a fun and educational linky party. Bloggers, share your posts every Thursday and watch as we round them up and share them all over the place. Almost anything goes, we’re just hoping your activities teach kids (or us!) something (science, art, cooking, behavior, crafting, parenting etc…). The Love to Learn Linky is hosted by:

Left Brain Craft BrainLeft Brain Craft Brain (leftbraincraftbrain.com): Anne is an ex-engineer, current stay-at-home mama writing about crafty ways to encourage creativity (and brain power!) in our kids. Each of her projects gives kids the chance to learn about a new subject and do something crafty at the same time.

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Totschooling (totschooling.net): Viviana is a blogging mom to a toddler and a preschooler, sharing ideas and resources for early education. She specializes in unique, hands-on printable activities that are educational, fun and inspire creativity in young minds.

 LPP Stars Button150x150A Little Pinch of Perfect (alittlepinchofperfect.com): Katie combines creativity, play, and learning for the perfect mishmash of fun activities that keep kiddos entertained throughout the day. She wholeheartedly believes in the power of play and feels that all activities naturally provide a fun way to learn.

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One Time Through (onetimethrough.com): Sue is an Elementary School Teacher currently on leave to be at home with her preschooler son. She shares ideas for connecting and learning with kids through meaningful, play-based activities that nurture curiosity and creativity, as well as positive parenting tips.

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11 thoughts on “Constellation Fruit Gummies”

  1. Pingback: 20+ Humpty Dumpty Inspired Activities - One Time ThroughOne Time Through

  2. Such a neat idea Anne! My son has been obsessed with all things space lately – we just picked up a cardboard box from Home Depot the other day to make a “rocket ship” at home. We will have to try this for sure! Thanks for the great idea!

  3. I love the constellation activity and printable! We haven’t talked about constellations yet, so this will be perfect. Thanks for including our play dough activity in today’s post.

    1. leftbraincraftbrain

      Love your planet play dough! It’s been fun introducing space stuff to my daughter this month.

  4. Pingback: DIY Cardboard Rocket Ship and Space Play Ideas - One Time ThroughOne Time Through

  5. Pingback: Creative Outer Space Crafts and Activities That Are a "Blast!"

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