In honor of International Space Day on May 3rd we thought it would be fun to Discover and Explore The Nighttime Sky this week.
When I taught in the classroom, I was blessed to teach at a NASA Explorer School. As part of the program kids were introduced to some amazing hands-on science activities and resources starting in kindergarten. Kids are often fascinated by space, and as their teacher I loved to see their eyes light up as we started to talk about the stars, the moon, and the nighttime sky.
Here on Fantastic Fun and Learning we’ve done a few simple activities to learn about the night sky.
We put together a very easy to make night sky felt set, and the kids had fun using it for pretend play and various math games.
To practice letter recognition and fine motor skills, we played with night sky playdough and created a N is for nighttime letter craft.
A cozy night sky reading nook made the perfect hiding spot for reading and play.
The kids learned about the surface of the moon by making craters and creating their own moon crafts.
And you know we didn’t learn about the nighttime sky without reading some great books. The widget below includes a handful of our favorites for this theme.
Your kids might also enjoy exploring the NASA Kids’ Club website. There are games and information for kids of various ages. There are also links to some fabulous videos and images from NASA…perfect for helping kids to visualize a concept that can be very abstract.
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Renae
May 7, 2013 at 6:22 pmMy apologies. I linked up the wrong post to your Linky Party. Feel free to remove it. This is my most recent post, not my stars, moon, and sun post. Again, I am so sorry! I love your ideas by the way!
Shaunna
May 8, 2013 at 5:48 amThat’s okay, Renae. We’ll go ahead and delete the post. I hope you’ll link up again soon when you have ideas that go along with our themes.
piwimama
May 2, 2013 at 4:12 amAnother great theme! We visting NASA last year and it was awesome! I was like a kid myself when i saw the space shuttle parked at the front!
Shaunna
May 2, 2013 at 12:49 pmI’m glad you are enjoying the weekly themes! I know what you mean about NASA sites. We live near one, and I continue to be in awe when we visit.
Tanya
May 1, 2013 at 8:19 amYou always have such great themed learning activities! I love the night sky reading nook- so fun! 🙂
Shaunna
May 1, 2013 at 12:52 pmThank you! The girls loved snuggling up in the night sky reading nook. I have a feeling that will be one we recreate often over the years as we revisit the space theme.