Space!

A few weeks ago, we did a unit on space. The boys really enjoyed it. Of course, now everything must also have a "night" so we did a space night as well. I will post that separately.

Space seemed to involve a lot of art activities. We used beads to make saturn's rings which was fabulous for Dawson's fine motor skills. Of course, I wasn't too keen on them pulling the beads off the rings and throwing them all over the house--not good on the feet or the vacuum. We created mars using wax paper, tissue paper and paint.

We painted push lights to make planets. That idea came from Play at Home Mom. I was hoping that the boys would get more into it but after one planet they were over it. The do look really neat though and they came in handy during our space night. I took PHM suggestion and bought the push lights at Walmart. I really hate walmart but I went for the sake of learning!

We spent a bit of time talking about the moon. We discussed how it rotates around the earth and why we see less of the moon. My dear husband helped me to create the moon phases using oreo cookies. We certainly enjoyed eating them during "school." The boys really enjoyed creating craters. I took a few rocks and some cloud dough - flour and baby oil- and let them drop the rocks into it to see how craters formed. Afterward, the kids spent some time playing with the cloud dough. Anything messy is always a hit!

We talked about the sun. I created a sheet that showed the earth is different positions in relation to the sun. I had the boys glue summer and winter apparel to the different sides to show which position indicated which season.

We reviewed the planets each day. The boys can tell me which planet earth is (3rd) and which planet is the biggest (Jupiter). They know there are 8 planets. I had them write (dictate to me) what they learned. Dawson said, "There are these ball things (planets). There is a lot of space between the ball things. There is a moon." I just had to laugh. glad he learned about the ball things!

One of the most fun things we did was make a rocket. To do this we needed two plastic cups and two rubberbands. The boys decorated their rockets and then launched them. I included the original directions if you click on the link. The boys really enjoyed this. We got them to go quite far.

 I never like to include the mundane stuff we did because there is quite a bit of it. We read books, went to the science center, did some worksheets, reviewed some skills. ya know, the stuff no one but us wants to hear about. Hope you have a great week!