Kids astro night
!
Cool!
If you have a laser pointer, you can show them some of the constellations and the sky-lore that relates to them. Even the significance of the Southern Cross to some aboriginal people as representing a stingray.
You can point out how the colour of stars represents different stages of stellar development. Betelgeuse, Rigel, Sirius, Alpha Centauri (as mentioned by Gary) are all good examples of stellar sizes, types and ages.
If the session is in the early evening, satellites are often easy to spot. Check to see if the ISS will be visible on your planned night! It happened to me on one kids session I held at my wife's school. Marvelous.
With M42, make a point of the "Fish Mouth" which is a dark pillar that is hiding one or several proto-stars. And that the Trapesium is an cluster of screaming hot new stars that are the main source of the illumination of the nebula. Oh, and as a triple whammy, also point out that the shape of the nebula is essentially clam-shell like, which is the shock-wave effect of the Trapesium.
If you have a little astro-cam, keep it handy. If the Moon is up, you will be surprised at how WOWED the kids will be as kids these days seem to related better to a screen than seen with their own eyes.
I took my scope to a kids hospice last year. All the kids that night were restricted to motorised wheel chairs, and none of them would have been able to reach an eyepiece, no matter what scope was being used. I had packed my little web-cam conversion and my laptop. Best thing I could have done! We only looked at the Moon and Saturn over the next four hours, but it was amungst the most enjoyable astro sessions I've ever had. For the kids to see the Moon and Saturn is a hoot. To have them see you tweek the scope and have the image moveabout makes the experience even better.
If you haven't delt with groups of kids before, talk to them, not at them. They are more switched on than we think, and even 4 year olds can understand abstract physics principles better than many adults.
How would you feel about letting the teacher take charge of one of the scopes? It will be a load off your mind and the teacher will get a kick. The moon is a good, "easy" target for a novice to be in charge of.
Mental.