Star gazing party for eight year olds - any ideas what I can do with them whilst two at a time are looking through the telescopes?

[thinneratforty]

So I've arranged a party at our house where there will be two telescopes (and people manning them and explaining what the kids are looking at). But how am I going to keep the others occupied whilst two at a time are looking through the telescopes? I was thinking about some sort of toasting of marshmallows, but is that easy to do safely? Is there any kind of craft activity I could do in the garden in the dark? Any ideas would be gratefully received.
There may be a couple of other parents there who may help out. DH will be mainly looking after dd2. Should I be hiring our babysitter for the evening to help? Party is 6-8pm with a party tea and then star gazing at 7pm once it's dark.

Could you make some sort of snap game of constellations - maybe with glow in the dark pens so they can play outside.

Glow sticks? Toasting marshmallows and hot chocolate would be good too.

Glow in the dark pens? Good idea. Thank you.
Just worried about the toasting marshmallows, what would we toast them on?

chinese lanterns that they colour in with their wishes and then an adult sends in the air for them:

Oooh no, had a very bad experience with one of those, nearly set a tree alight. But maybe something they could colour or draw on with glow in the dark pens.

Make red night torches? Simple torches/bulbs but with red cellophane?
Make a planetarium type model?
Use playdoh to make the different planets
Colouring sheets

Moon Walk Game - Cut out large, crater-shaped circles from brown paper bags, and number them sequentially. Lay out an obstacle course with these shapes, so that they are fairly close together, but not touching, making sure sequential numbers are contiguous. The object of the game is to have the children take turns moonwalking (jumping) over the craters in numerical order without touching them. Explain the concept of gravity, and how astronauts were able to walk on the moon.

Make a rocket each and race them?

How about making some star shaped cookies/shortbread to eat with their hot chocolate.

You could pre-make the dough, then just get them to roll out and cut.

These are good. I like the moonwalking idea. And the cookie idea. Brilliant, thank you.

there was something on pinterest about glow in the dark jars.....glow paints and splattering paint with straws and brushes on the inside. They looked really amazing.

Certainly I'd go with glow sticks....everyone loves them, and if you can find them in HomeBargains or Poundland it needn't be expensive.

How about "Which Planet" guessing games??...everyone gets a sticker on their forehead and has to find out by asking questions which planet they are.

Hope you have a clear dry night for this!

Link for glowing jars

I was going to suggest that you pre-make the star-shaped biscuits and let them decorate them with icing, smarties, etc.

Or get some black paper and silver pens or star stickers and let them make night sky pictures.

That is the only thing that's worrying me catsmamma. It needs to be warmer than tonight for sure!

Wooden skewers stuck in the end of bamboo canes for toasting marshmallows. Remove skewer and toasted marshmallow and eat.