Spacing Out

We just finished a unit on Outer Space-- this is probably one of my favorites so far this year. It's pretty easy to keep the attention of 3-year olds when you're talking about spaceships and aliens!

This post will be short and sweet. It's all about the resources, people!

We kicked off the week with our alphabet craft; this week it was the letter X, so we made a xylophone. The kids cut out a construction paper strip, then covered it with foil to add some interesting texture. Then they were responsible for ordering the colored bars from largest to smallest and gluing them in place. Last, they attached the xylophone stick, made from a popsicle stick and a pom-pom. 

We made a spaceship as well. The kids cut out the body of the ship, then they glued on the triangle base pieces and the top. They colored the flames and glued those on as well. They finished the ship by sticking some shiny star stickers on it.

Next we made planet Earth. The kids cut out the circle and glued it to their “space” paper. Before we started, I cut out some continent-like shapes and laminated them so we could reuse them for each child. The last step was for the kids to sponge-paint around the shapes to create the ocean and the continents on the paper.

Last, we made the moon. The kids painted on the easel and glued “craters” to the surface.

Another fun activity I found online was a printable mini-book. The kids used their imaginations and created their own planet, complete with their own drawings. They named it and included details about the planet's happenings. This was a terrific way to work in some emergent literacy. You can find the book here.