The technical term is "averted vision". The eye is more sensitive in black and white, but about 15 degrees off centre from your normal colour vision. It's the only way to see some faint objects.
That star following the moon, sounds like Jupiter. Venus is in the morning at the moment. If you have decent vision, 10x50 binoculars and something to steady them, you may be able to see its moons which appear as tiny dots next to it in a line.
Binos are very hard for kids to use though, because they can't adjust the eyepieces to be close enough for their small heads.
Your 40mm telescope should manage this as well, if you focus it just right.
Instead of star charts, download Stellarium, its a free planetarium that runs on any PC/Mac and it is absolutely brilliant. In fact you can also get apps for an iPhone/Android that do the same thing so you can take it outside with you whenever you need to identify something.
The skyscout has been mentioned, there's one for sale on adverts.ie for €160. I never tried it, but it's supposed to be good.
Sounds like you are well on your way!
Philip
