Welcome to our “Out of this World Space Week” series – an at home camp filled with days of relaxed learning and fun themed activities on outer space! For this day, we learned all about the astronauts by reading some fiction and non-fiction books, watching some educational videos, writing our own stories, making some easy crafts, and performing some stem activities! Read through to check out the day!
A TYPICAL DAY
All kids are different and you can definitely vary your day with whatever works for you 🙂 But the gist of our day is having our kiddos focus on some work books or online learning tools in the early morning, an intro to the day’s theme after they were done, some videos around lunch time, and themed activities (reading time, writing time, crafts, food crafts/snacks, and games or experiments) in the afternoon. Feel free to pick and choose whatever works for you 🙂
INTRO
Most kids are likely familiar with space, astronauts, and rocket ships, so this day may be a familiar and favorite topic!. We like to start our day by talking about what they know and then letting them know what we’ll study for the day.
WHAT TO WATCH
We find that mixing in a short video themed to our day is a great way to add some learning fun! We try to pick informative videos OR mix in a cartoon favorite (where they don’t even realize they’re learning). Below are some of the videos we picked from for the day:
- If I were an Astronaut (8 min) from Story Time from Space. This video is from the Story Time From Space Library – a great collection of space themed books read by astronauts in space!!! It’s an amazing way for kids to see astronauts in a space station setting AND getting a story read to them!
- What Do Astronauts Do? By SciShow Kids (4m)
- The Magic School Bus Rides Again: Kids in Space
FOOD CRAFTS / SNACKS
What’s more fun than taking a break and having a simple snack??? Including the snack in your theme of the day! We find that our kiddos are more than happy to eat the snacks they create especially when they can arrange them into fun shapes and scenes!
We actually had two snacks for the day – rocket ship sandwiches AND astronaut ice cream! While the rocket ship sandwich is a fairly obvious treat for the day, we also wanted to try out some “astronaut ice cream” – a staple in many space and science museums. And of course, this one treat had a teaching moment. After a few internet searches, we found that astronauts actually never ate this freeze dried delight but they do actually enjoy real ice cream (We All Scream – Even in Space – for Ice Cream by National Air and Space Museum! Learn something new every day 🙂
READING
It’s no secret that reading helps prevent that summer slide. Some even say this is the most important. For our older ones, we have them fill out some worksheets (or let them create some of their own comics) to describe what they read and/or learned!
For our books of the day, we had quite an age range in order (younger first then moving up in complexity). Although the last few are a little more difficult for younger kids to read by themselves, they have some great information in them & may be good to read to your little ones.
- Space Walk by Salina Yoon
- I am Neil Armstrong by Brad Meltzer
- Who Was the First Man on the Moon? Neil Armstrong
WRITING & WRITING PROMPTS
Just like reading, writing helps prevent that summer slide by both encouraging their creativity but also their motor skills and penmanship.
If you’ve got a little one, have them trace words related to the theme: SPACE, ASTRONAUT, ROCKET SHIP
If you’ve got older children, have them write a sentence or two up to a page or two (depending on their age). Encourage them to be creative AND give reasons for why they made certain choices. This was our writing prompt of the day but definitely pick something your kiddo might be interested in writing about!
- Imagine you are an astronaut going on your first mission. Describe where you are going, how long your mission is going to be, and what you have to do.
CRAFT
If you’ve got a crafty little one, a simple craft is a great way to keep them interested in the topic. While their creative juices are flowing, you can also chat about what they’ve learned so far or ask them what else they’re excited about learning!
We had a few easy crafts to pick from for the day (with the first being the least messy).
- Space Shuttle Gliders – We had a few of these left over from a space-themed birthday party and so brought some out for the day. They don’t glide as well as some homemade paper airplanes, but they’re fun to put together!
- Toilet Paper Rocket Ship – This one can be as simple or complex as your little one wants to make it! The toilet paper roll is the body of the rocket and you can use construction paper to make the rocket’s nose and fins. Then add in any other decorations or stickers!
STEM ACTIVITY
While crafting and writing get their creativity and imagination flowing, we also like to add in an activity that gets them thinking along the lines of science, technology, engineering, or math! These engaging activities or experiments are a great way to keep them learning!
NASA has a number of STEM Lessons for Educators that you can use to pick from for your little kiddos – you can also further filter by grade and topic! We picked a fairly short one (less than 30 min) for elementary age kids – Soda Straw Rockets, but there are definitely others worth looking into if you’ve got the time!
THANK YOU!!!
Thank you for checking out our at home camp article! We hope this article has helped you and your little ones find the JOY in learning and/or maybe even inspired more ideas for you! If you enjoyed this post, please let us know what you think in the comments below and/or follow us on Pinterest.
Also, if you haven’t already, check out some of our other Outer Space Ideas or DIY At Home Camps!
Happy Learning!
