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.
- Print your favorite astronaut clipart.
- Have your preschooler cut it out.
- Tape it (I used packing tape) to the balloon.
- 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.
- 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
- 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.
- Add STAR STICKERS! … Amazon has several kinds available here
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- 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!
- 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. - 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.
- 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
- Rocket Body = graham crackers with PB inside
- Wings = cheese slices
- Rocket Boosters & Nose = fruit leather
- Windows = mini pepperonis
- Meteorites = blueberries
Blue Model Magic … a fun gathering activity
