light pollution demo

I once traveled to schools with a 10' diameter inflatable dome. To create a participatory demo of light pollution, I printed about 10 paper houses and businesses that were folded into small (3" x 3.5" x 2") building models, cut open the windows, and stuffed them with tissue paper. Using a small, cylindrical, pvc joint glued to the bottom, it would accomodate a small cylindrical LED flashlight that would serve as a handle. .

I asked 10 kids to hold the little "buildings", all in the lit mode. Then I'd ask one kid to turn his/her building off. And then ask another to do likewise. After a while,The dome would no longer be light-poluuted, dramatically revealing the projected stars.