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 constellations by reading some fun fact books, watching some educational videos, 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, stars, and possibly constellations. 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:
- Constellations: Connect the Dots in the Sky! from SciShow Kids (4m)
- Constellations for Kids | Learn about the types of constellations, their names, and how to find them from Learn Bright (9m)
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!
This snack is pretty simple – creating constellations with pretzels and cheese! We used our Veggie Cutters to make some stars (although small cheese squares would work too) and pretzel sticks.
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.
- Zoo in the Sky by Jacqueline Mitton
- Wishing on a Star by Fran Lee
- Where are the Constellations? By Stephanie Sabol
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, STAR, CONSTELLATION
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!
- Create Your own make-believe constellations: draw them out and create your story
We also did an extra writing/storytelling activity with the kiddos – we had a few pieces of rice as well as some slightly larger acrylic gems and had the kids spread them out on our space poster board. Then we gave them toothpicks to ‘connect’ some of the “stars” (rice/gems) and tell us what constellation they made. We also had them create a mini-story to go along with their constellation. They really liked this activity and ended up making a few 🙂
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).
- Constellation Craft for Kids from giftofcuriosity.com. This is a nice and easy little craft – just add star stickers, black construction paper, and chalk! You can have some constellations for them to recreate and/or encourage them to create their own.
- Creatology Box – We picked up this kit from Michaels in a sale area. It’s a nice little kit that has everything inside. Note: there is paint and glue, so you may want to set up in an area that can get a little messy. If you can’t find the kit, you could definitely pick up a pack of star boxes and supplement with your own craft supplies for decorating.
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!
- Make a star finder from Nasa Space Place for Kids: Make a Star Finder. This is a cool way to show what constellations appear during certain months.
- We also followed the activity on SciShow Kids: Create Constellation Flashcards to create some flash cards of our own.
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!
