Circle Activities

1.  Planet Activity

Label 9 felt planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and the Sun

Song:

There Are Nine Planets

Tune: Mary Had A Little Lamb

The-re a-re nine planets,

nine planets, nine planets.

The-re a-re nine planets.

they rotate around the sun.

Fi-rst co-mes Mercury,

Mercury, Mercury, Mercury.

Fi-rst co-mes Mercury,

it rotates around the sun.

Second co-mes Venus.

Thi-rd co-mes Earth.

Four-th co-mes Mars.

Fif-th co-mes Jupiter.

Six-th co-mes Saturn.

Seventh co-mes Uranus.

Eighth co-mes Neptune.

Nin-th co-mes Pluto.

The-se a-re the nine planets,

nine planets, nine planets.

The-se a-re the nine planets,

that rotate around the sun.

2. Ring Around the Spaceships

Ring Around the spaceship.

(walk with others in circle)

Try to grab a star

(Reach up high)

Stardust, Stardust

(Wiggle fingers)

All fail down.

(drop to floor)

3. Climb Aboard The Space Ship

Climb aboard the spaceship, we're going to the moon

Hurry and get ready, we're going to blast off soon

Put on your helmets, and buckle up real tight

Here comes the countdown, let's count with all our might

10 . . . 9 . . .8 . . . 7 . . .6 . . . 5 . . . 4 . . . 3 . . .2 . . . 1 . . . blast off!

4. Introducing Space

I introduced the topic space by describing what was in space such as stars, sun, moon and planets.

5.  What do I see?

Using the telescope that the children made, look through them and ask the children what they see in the sky?  Stars, planets, moon and sun.

6. What planet am I?

Using felt planets ask the children what planet it is? 

7. Planet Characteristics

Give one characteristic of each planet. Mercury-Hottest, Venus-brightest, Earth-Home to me and you, Mars-Red, Jupiter-Widest, Saturn-Rings, Uranus-Spins on its side,

Neptune-really windy, Pluto- Coldest/Smallest

8. Walking on the moon

Have the children walking on pillows covered with a sheet pretending they are walking on the moon.

9. Space Words

Giving the children words that are found in space.  Sun, Moon, Planets, Comet, Meteor, Orbit, Shooting Star, Astronaut, Constellation, Star, Solar System, Telescope. Explaining each word.

10. Space Felt Board Activity

10 felt spaceships shooting from Earth to the Moon. Each spaceship has a number.  The children will get turns picking a number and shooting it off from the Earth to the Moon.

Crafts

1. Space Capsule Craft

MATERIALS NEEDED:  You will need a picture of your child's face.  If you do not have this, you can substitute a face cut out of a magazine or newspaper and use this as your astronaut.   

a paper or styrofoam cup, 

a plastic bag (like a bread bag or grocery bag),

some string or wool (3 or 4 pieces), 

tinfoil 

INSTRUCTIONS:

Cut out the face so it fits on the paper cup. (The paper cup will be standing upside down)  

Wrap the cup in tinfoil.  An adult may need to help attach it with tape or glue. 

Decorate the cup with stickers as desired. 

Glue the face onto the side of the upside down cup. You can draw a little window around the face if desired. 

Poke a hole in the top of the cup and thread 4 pieces of string through. Tie a knot inside the cup so the string will not fall out. 

Cut a "parachute" out of the plastic bag (a square piece of plastic) and attach one of your strings to each corner of the bag. 

Let your child play with it or hang it from the ceiling. 

2.  Shooting Star

Using yellow construction paper, draw out a star shape and a tail.  Have the children glue the tail to the star and decorate with sparkles.

3. Constellation

Give the children different colored star stickers to put on black paper. After they have finished that, give them chalk to connect the stars. They can look at their picture and name their constellation and you can write it on the picture.

4. Telescope

Let the children paint a paper towel tube with dark blue paint and add stars when dry. Cover end with black tissue paper and hold on with a rubber band. Poke holes with a pin or paper clip that is opened up. Hold up to light and see the "stars"!

5. Decorating Space Shuttle

We made a space shuttle out of boxes.  We painted it and then added stars and stripes.  We called our Space shuttle TLC-04.

6. Me on the Moon

For a souvenir of your space week, find a picture of an astronaut. Make a copy of the picture. Cut out the face of the astronaut and use a picture of a child and make another copy. Now it looks like your student is on the moon. Do this for all of your children. They'll love it.

7. Easy Big Surprise Space Rubbing   

Place cutouts of stars, planets, moon, sun, and so on a table.

Cover the table with a big piece of butcher paper. Tape down securely so it won't wiggle. Peel crayons. Rub the entire surface of the table with crayons, watching the shapes appear.

8. Make Aliens!

Use pom-poms, pipe cleaners and wiggle eyes to make aliens. Kids glue them to the center, some use two different size pom-poms one on top of the other. Add eyes and arms.

9. Astronaut Suits

Make astronaut suits out of paper grocery bags.  Cut out a hole in the bag and place over the child's head to look like a helmet.  Cut out eyes, nose and mouth.  Use 2 liter soda bottles for "air tanks."  Use crayons, glitter to decorate helmets.

10. Planet Mobile

Using paper plates cut out the 9 planets.  Have the children glue construction paper onto the plates.  Write the name of each planet and then hang them from a hanger.

Songs

1. 9 Planets

1 little, 2 little, 3 little planets 4 little, 5 little, 6 little planets 7 little, 8 little, 9 little planets and our great big sun

2. Four Little Stars

Four little stars winking at me.

One shot off, then there were three!

Three little stars with nothing to do.

One shot off, then there were two!

Two little stars afraid of the sun.

One shot off, then there was one!

One little star Alone is no fun.

It shot off, then there was none!

3. Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

How I wonder what you are.

Up above the world so high,

Like a diamond in the sky.

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

How I wonder what you are!

When the blazing sun is gone,

When he nothing shines upon,

Then you show your little light,

Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

How I wonder what you are!

Then the traveler in the dark

Thanks you for your tiny spark;

He could not see which way to go,

If you did not twinkle so.

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

How I wonder what you are!

4. The Planets

Well, the sun's a hot star... Mercury's hot too.

Venus is the brightest planet... Earth's home to me and you.

Mars is the red one. Jupiter's most wide.

Saturn's got those icy rings, and Uranus spins on its side.

Neptune's really windy, and Pluto's really small.

Well, you wanted to name the planets, and now you've named them all!

5. Landing on the moon

Tune: (She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain)

We’ll be landing on the moon, yes we will, We’ll be landing on the moon, yes we will, We’ll be landing on the moon, We’ll be landing on the moon, We’ll be landing on the moon, yes we will

2. We’ll be walking on the moon, yes we will

3. We’ll be blasting off again, yes we will

4. We’ll be landing back on Earth, yes we will

Stories

1. Space

Facts about space to help children learn the basics and stimulate further exploration.

2. The Man in the Moon

Once upon a time there lived a man on the moon.  He got very hot because he lived beside the sun.  He wore very nice clothes. He started taking off his clothes one by one and throwing them into space.  His clothes would turn into planets.  He didn’t feel hot anymore because the earth divided the sun and the moon, he actually felt chilly sometimes.   The man on the moon lived happily ever after.

3. MoonGame

Bear learns to play hide-and-seek. He decides to play with the moon.  But suddenly the moon cannot be found.  Bears friend little bird comes to help.  Then they go into the forest and his friends help to find the moon.  Nobody can find the moon.  Bear feels bad he lost the moon.  Bear cries out okay moon you won, you can come out.  The moon wasn’t lost it was just hiding behind a cloud.

4. The Big Dipper

There’s one star group in the night that almost everyone can find: The Big Dipper. The big dipper is the ideal starting point for the young stargazer.  The seven stars in the big dipper are bright enough to be found in the northern sky.  This book helps you to locate the big dipper at night time with simple text and pictures.  It’s the perfect introduction to the wonders of the sky.

5. Sunshine, Moonshine

Sun shines on my pillow and says wake up to me. Moon shines on my pillow and says good night to me. 

6. The Sun, Our Closest Planet

The sun has been shinning on our planet for billions of years.  It gives us light and keeps us warm.  Without the sun, there would be no plants or animals.  Without the sun, there would be no life on earth.  What is the sun?  The sun is a star. It is our daytime Star, the star closest to the earth.  Do the experiment inside this book to see how sunlight makes things grow.

7. Goodnight Moon

Goodnight room, goodnight moon, goodnight cow jumping over the moon.  Goodnight to noises Everywhere.

8. Henry and Mudge and the Starry Night

Henry didn’t know that there were so many stars in the sky.  They saw the big dipper and the little dipper.  Father sang a lullaby, everyone fell fast asleep and had wonderful dreams.

9. One Day, Daddy

Little Monster has a problem.  He knows that one day; he will want to be an explorer in outer space.  But that will mean leaving his mother and father behind and he will be lonely without them.  Children will identify with little monster as he imagines the big possibilities in his future, and be reassured that even outer-space explorers can back home to their parents.

10. Our Stars

Every night, many twinkling lights appear in the wide sky.  We can also see earth’s moon and during the day the great hot sun. Some nights a meteor appears shooting through space.  Scientists use telescopes and satellites to study the stars.  But even though they’re far, far away our stars are for everyone. Just lift up your eyes and see…….

Space

Turn your dramatic play area into a space kitchen by covering your stove, refrigerator, sink....etc. with aluminum foil!

Space Walking:

Use rubber bands to attach large sponges to the shoes of your students and let them go on a space walk. This gives them the feeling of being weightless. 

Space Ships

Make great space ships for your children to play with. Put two Styrofoam bowls together so that the tops are together. Cover the two bowls with aluminum foil. You can then decorate them with stickers and other things to make them look more real. Your children will love playing with these during space week.

Space Shuttle

Make a space shuttle in your dramatic play area. Get a large box (refrigerator) and two smaller ones (Oven). Put them together to form a space shuttle. You can use a third box to form the point of the shuttle. Paint the boxes. Finally, cut out a place for the children to get into the box on the bottom of the box. You can cut stars out of the top of the box so that the children will see stars when they look up. For added effect give the children space uniforms (white sheets and helmets (5 gallon ice cream buckets or paper bags).