Creative Library Displays

Mars becomes less distant and we might even be able to put a permanent colony on the Moon. The SpaceX mission to the International Space Station is planned in September followed by a second crew in October. From Vandenbergh Air Base, in November an ocean observation satellite will be launched. We’re living in exiting space exploration times. The sky is no longer the limit, it is the new frontier. And as we’re going to celebrate the upcoming events, I wanted to show off with this display.

I not only wanted to give credit to the planets but also to our Earth and therefore I gave her a prominent place. Surrounded by the different planets she seems to be the base from where we’re venturing into the unknown. To highlight the universe’s significance I put plenty of books on astronomy, the universe, space/time travel and science fiction within reach.

To create a ‘space’ background, I use transparent blue wrapping paper. It gives a lovely shiny sparkle over the aquamarine coloured wrapping paper of the previous display, but normal dark blue wrapping paper will work equally well. I stapled the half-round shape of planet earth to the bottom of the display board to make it look like it is rising above the horizon.

After that, it was easy to put the planets in place.

From a magazine, I copied a rocket with a man pointing his finger upwards and I enlarged it in different sizes. I also copied the same image in reverse to make the rocket and the finger point in the opposite direction.

I’ve wrapped the top board in silver-coloured wrapping paper and stapled dozens of illuminating stars in different sizes to it. The Christmas lights make the stars sparkle in all kind of colours.

What you need:

• Display heading printed
• Names of planets printed
• Blue or transparent wrapping paper
• Silver wrapping paper (or blue if you like)
• About 15 A4 images of different parts of the earth taken from space
• Images of the planets, enlarged if necessary
• Images of rockets or space shuttles
• Illuminating paper
• Christmas lights

What to do:

• To create a 50cm wide and 60cm high half-round earth I pasted lots of earth images together tricking they eye by dotting the same paper over the lines so they fade. Don’t skip this part, it looks much better without de rectangle edges. I didn’t worry about the accuracy of the world or its geography.

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• Staple the planets and their names in place. Staple or glue the space shuttles or rockets in the empty space between earth and the planets. I used some of the pointing fingers to emphasize the names of the planets.

• Use the illuminating paper to cut lots and lots of stars in different sizes. This can be done way before the display day. Laminate them, you will not regret it. Not only does it looks much better they are much sturdier that way and can be used over and over again. Wrap the silver or blue wrapping paper to the board and staple it in place.

• Attach the shiny stars all over the silvery paper and hang the Christmas lights in place. Connect the power and the stars will sparkle and shine in beautiful colours.

• Arrange the books on the shelves and on the floor in front of the display. Big half-open standing books with a flat laying book on top can be used as a book-display stand to show a smaller book and to create different levels of displays.

Filed under: Adventure, Education, Travel | Comments Off on Astronomy – Take me to the Sky