O is for Outer Space

To be honest, I’m usually scrambling to get preschool ready in the morning. Our baby just turned 6-months-old and I’m just starting to feel like I’m getting life under control.  The main reason I started this blog was to have a place for me to keep my preschool plans and ideas just for times like this. I was able to put a few ideas together, grab a book from the bookshelf, scissors, gluesticks and we were ready to go. So, here is what we pulled off today …

• Astronaut Balloons … I gave these to the kids while I finished getting some things ready. Astronauts float in outer space, so we taped an astronaut clipart to a balloon so the kids could bop it and help him float around the house.
  1. Print your favorite astronaut clipart.
  2. Have your preschooler cut it out.
  3. Tape it (I used packing tape) to the balloon.
  4. Bop it!
• Sing a few songs … we have been starting off with a couple of fun songs. Today it was “The Wheels on the Bus”.

• Read “Me and My Place in Space ” by Joan Sweeney … Show the kids the cover of the book and ask them what they know about Outer Space.

• Outer Space Pictures… this was our big project for the day. They worked out really well.
  1. Name Rockets
     • Cut out squares in several colors. Ours were 2½” x 2½”
     • Cut out triangles for the wings and one for the nose of the rocket.
     • Have the kids count how many letters are in their name and pick out that many squares.
     • Write one letter of their name on each square. My 4-year-old wrote her own name. I wrote my 2-year-old’s name.
     • Glue the name squares vertically on a large piece of black paper (I taped 2 pieces of black cardstock together). Add the wings and the nose. Resist the urge to straighten everything for them
  2. Planets & Stars
     • Print all of the planet images from The Center for Science Education at UC Berkeley here.
     • Have the kids cut out each of the planets and glue them onto their space picture. My 4-year-old did the cutting all by herself, but got tired and left three planets off. Totally fine. I cut my 2-year-old’s planets out and she glued them on.
  3. Add STAR STICKERS! … Amazon has several kinds available here.
  4. Write with white crayon!
     • My kids are always amazed when the white crayons actually “work”
     • Give them a white crayon and let them see how it shows up so bright on the black paper. They can write their name or circle the stars (to practice writing Os!)

• Build Rockets!
  1. We got several sets of Magformers for Christmas. I can’t say enough good about them. My 2, 4, 6, and 9-year-old all LOVE them. My husband and I can play with them for hours. Even the baby loves to chew on them They have magnets inside the plastic that snap together easily. We’ve build some pretty neat creations.
  2. They are a little expensive, but since they’ve been pulled out every single day since Christmas, I can see them being a favorite for a long time.
  3. Duplo blocks or wooden blocks would also work to build rockets

• Outer Space Lunch … this idea is compliments of my 4-year-old. I was going to make PB&J. She decided we needed Outer Space Rocket lunches. Definitely more fun
1. Rocket Body = graham crackers with PB inside
2. Wings = cheese slices
3. Rocket Boosters & Nose = fruit leather
4. Windows = mini pepperonis
5. Meteorites = blueberries

Outer Space

• Weightless Astronaut Balloon
  1. Print out a picture of an astronaut (or use one from above!)
  2. Glue or tape the astronaut to an inflated balloon.
  3. Bop the balloon to keep it and the astronaut up in the air.
  4. Talk about how astronauts are weightless in space because there is no gravity.
  5. Have the kids imagine what it would be like to be weightless!
• Glowing Stars
  1. Use a piece of stiff, black paper.
  2. Lay the paper on the carpet and give the kids a pushpin.
  3. Let them make as many holes (stars) as they would like to all over their paper.
  4. If your kids are older, have them try making a constellation.   
  5. Turn off the lights and hold their star paper in front of a bright light. The light will shine through the holes making a sheet full of beautiful, glowing stars!

• Read There’s No Place Like Space by Tish Rabe.

   

• Outer Space Banner
  1. Print out the colorful images of each planet above. Or a great coloring page of the planets here. Click the “planets” link under supplies.
  2. Talk about what shape the planets are. Name the colors of each planet. Which planet has rings?
  3. Get out the little scissors and practice cutting on the dotted lines!
  4. Write numbers 1-8 on each planet square
     1. Mercury
     2. Venus
     3. Earth
     4. Mars
     5. Jupiter
     6. Saturn
     7. Uranus
     8. Neptune
  5. On a long strip of paper (blue or black!), help the kids glue the planets in order 1-8, closest to the sun to furthest from the sun. My kids just wanted to glue theirs to a paper so that’s what we did!
  6. NOTE: You could also make this into a mobile by taping a string to the back of each planet and hanging them in order from a clothes hanger
•  Astronaut Finger Rhyme 

Four Little Astronauts
Four little astronauts winking at me,
(Hold up fingers as rhyme indicates.)
One blasts off, now there are three.
Three little astronauts with nothing to do,
One blasts off, now there are two.
Two little astronauts afraid of the Sun,
One blasts off, now there is one.
One little astronaut alone is no fun,
He blasts off, now there are none.

 

• Circle the Stars!
  1. Have the kids stick lots of star stickers all over a black piece of paper.
  2. Use a white crayon and have them circle each of the stars … they won’t even know they’re practicing the letter O!