Space Unit
Blast off to the final frontier!!!
Here is a collection of spaced-themed activities for you to choose from.
We begin with the big book The Jigaree by Joy Cowley. This book is published by the
Wright Group. In this story, a friendly space creature is jumping, dancing, swimming and skating its way
into the heart of a little space boy and also of the readers of the book.. It is typical Joy Cowley fare, with
predictable, rhyming, rhythmic text and an excellent picture - text match.
Other titles that fit in with this unit,
Activities that relate specifically to The Jigaree include:
1. Making a jigaree stick puppet. I traced one of the pictures in the book and duplicated it for the class.
The children color and cut out the picture and glue it to a popsicle stick. The children then can act out the
story using their puppet.
Activities that relate to Why the Sun and the Moon are in the Sky
Activities that relate to Why the Sky is Far Away
Activities that relate to The Moon was the Best
Other space activites:
Moon Chant
A-B-CDE
Z-Z-ZZZ
Moon Cookies
Balloon Powered Rockets
Tangram puzzle
Two-liter telescopes
The Sun is a Fiery Ball of Gas
A neat site for your kids to visit if you have internet access at school is Little Explorers’
Picture Dictionary. After you get to the picture dictionary, click on the letter A, then choose
“astronomy”. This goes to a link that contains more links of space related places and items. This site is
kid-friendly and very easy to navigate. You will want to bookmark this site as it is a plethora of
information for your “kinders”.
Here is a link for more excellent space (and other ideas) The October/November 1998 Kindergarten Kafe'
© 1997 againes@netins.net
Why the Sun and the Moon are in the Sky
Why the Sky is Far Away
The Moon was the Best.
2. The children rewrite the story using the pattern from the book and change the “doing” word. That way
the jigaree can go “hopping” or “leaping” or “scooting” after them. Then the children illustrate the page
to match their words. This activity is limited only by your students’ imaginations!
3. The children can act out the “doing” words in the story and have the class guess which word they are
acting out. Point to the correct words in the book.
1. This is an African folktale. Discuss what a folktale is and read and discuss the story.
2. Make sun and moon masks using the illustrations in the book as a model.
1. This is another African folktale. It relates to the concept of wastefulness vs. caring for natural
resources.
2. Use torn paper collage and make a picture of the sky. Discuss the different ways the sky can look, ie.
clear, cloudy, stormy, hazy, night sky, etc before the children begin working so that different ideas are
presented before the art project begins.
1. Read the story which deals with the concept of parents going away on a trip and the fact that no matter
where you are, when you look up at the moon, you are both seeing the same thing.
2. Obtain a recording of “Somewhere Out There” (from the movie Fievel Goes West). This beautiful
song communicates a similar message. Last year my kids sang this song at an end of year program and it
had a wonderful effect.
Learn about the moon with me
F-G-HIJ
It’s out in space so far away.
K-L-MNO
No air or water so nothing will grow.
P-Q-RST
Reflects sunlight so brightly
U-V-WXY
Appears to change shape in the sky.
Full of craters and rocky.
You will need a tube of Pillsbury Sugar Cookie Dough for each 15 students. Cut a portion of dough for
each student. The students flatten out the dough and use their fingers to make moon craters. Bake
cookies
according to package directions. Let cool and eat.
Show students pictures of space rockets. Each student decorates a lunch sack to look like a rocket. Then
give each student a long balloon to blow up and hold the end. Do not tie. Place the balloon inside the
rocket and let the balloon go. It is best to take this activity outdoors if possible. It is important to
caution the children to use the balloons carefully as uninflated balloons do pose a choking hazard. If you are uncomfortable with the children blowing up the balloons, you could blow balloons up
for the children, involve older children in this project, or invite parent volunteers to help and just allow
the children to launch the
rockets.
Use this traditional 7 piece Chinese puzzle to build a simple rocket shape. Have the students trace around
the pieces, then color their design.
Cut off the bottom
of a 2-ltr bottle.Strudents should wrap a black piece of construction paper around the bottle and secure with glue or tape. Copy four different constellations on white copy paper (draw them on the 4 outer edges of the paper). Give each child a piece of black construciton paper and a push pin (thumb tack with a grip on the end). Have them lay the white copy on top of the black paper. Use the push pin to poke thru each star (dot) to make a constellation. Look through the pour spout on the 2 ltr. holding it with one hand. with other hand, hold the black paper up to the cut end of 2 ltr, positioning one of the punched-out "constellations" in the middle of the cut hole. Look up toward a light source.
To help the students develop understanding of the concept that the sun is a ball of fiery gases, not solid
like the earth, use streamers or strips of paper in red, yellow, white and orange. Give each child one streamer. The children are positioned in concentric circles of colors. The center is white (hottest part of sun), then yellow, then orange and last red. put on spacey type music and have children "boil and bubble" around in their circles. The circles can spin
in different directions. Periodically say "solar flare" at which time the red streamers burst off the circle and then return to their place. (Solar flares are giant bursts of gas exploding off the surface of the sun.) To end, have children slowly "run out of gas" and sit on the floor as you turn down music.
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