Outer Space Unit for Preschool

Outer Space Unit for Preschool

The stars and moon and planets of our solar system have long fascinated people of all ages. When NASA launched 60 years ago it was a vision, a dream. The reality of space exploration has far exceeded our expectations in so many ways.

LEARN MORE ABOUT NASA’S 60TH ANNIVERSARY

I am honestly not sure where my kids caught the space bug, but I noticed that their play started involving rockets blasting off to space. Over the course of the next few weeks, we delved into the planets, astronauts, the moon, the international space station and more.

Whether your kids are fantasizing about becoming astronauts or curious about the hubbub surround NASA’s anniversary, this is a fun collection of ideas to delve into outer space with preschoolers.

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Preschool Outer Space Unit Ideas

Field Trip Ideas

  1. Planetarium
  2. Science Museum : Here’s an example of a Museum trip from Something 2 Offer.
  3. Backyard Moon or Star Watching : These tips on How to Spot Meteors from Frog Mom could help!

Outer Space Children’s Book List

There are so many amazing books for kids to absorb about outer space and astronauts. A few of our absolute favorites are below, but for the full list read BEST CHILDREN’S BOOKS ABOUT ASTRONAUTS & OUTER SPACE.

Mousetronaut Goes to Mars by Astronaut Mark Kelly
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This adorable book follows the adventures of a mouse astronaut, Meteor. He is determined to be apart of the first human misson to Mars. Children will be rooting along for this little mouse hero. 3+

The Magic School Bus: Lost in the Solar System
by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen
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A classic Magic School Bus book. Venture into the space with the most adventurous classroom and most famous science teacher in children’s books. 3+

Moonshot : The Flight of Apollo 11 by Brian Floca
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We are a huge fan of Brian Floca and this book is no exception. Stunning illustrations, fascinating information, and amazing retelling of the story of Apollo 11 for the next generation. 4+

A Trip into Space
by Lori Haskins Houran
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Good first looks at the International Space Station for preschoolers where astronauts live, work, and walk. 3+

Outer Space Learning Activity Ideas

Planets, Planets from Album I Know You’ll Grow.. by Music with Nancy
music/arts

We love Nancy Kopman’s music and I credit her Planets, Planets song to my twins learning the names of all of the planets. My daughter sang this song non-stop for almost a month. You can find the CD on Amazon.

Ball Solar System
science

My dad did this activity with my kids (I come by this teacher thing naturally). He gathered a bunch of balls of different sizes – soccer balls, baseball, tennis ball, etc. They used the balls to create a solar system on the dining room table. Then they took turns orbiting the balls (planets) around the table.

International Space Station
science and creativity

My kids are fascinated by astronauts and the idea of the international space station. We read a couple books about the ISS but then I found a Tour of ISS on UTube. There are a few so look around. My twins loved learning about how the astronauts bounce around without gravity and about the different living spaces in the station. After they watched it, they drew their own version of the space station (photo above).

Next they pretended their tent was a Space Station and a big yellow beach ball was a meteorite. This pretend play was very dramatic and exciting. Later they pretended that our whole house was a space station and their shoes were gravity boots. Much imagination and pretending happened for days.

Gravity Experiments
science

Gravity is a tricky concept for preschoolers to understand. It involves something they can’t really seem making it abstract and difficult to explain. We worked on the concept a little by doing a simple gravity experiment. One person stood at the top of the stairs and dropped two objects at the same time. The other people stood at the bottom and watched to see which item feel the fastest. We talked about this and made some guesses about why some things fell faster than others.

Outerspace Little Passports Unit
math and literacy

Our Little Passports subscription for this month just happened to match our interest which was a huge bonus. If you’re curious about Little Passports you can learn more here. We used their activities throughout our unit, usually during group time, and especially loved the outer space themed stamps. We used them to make pictures, create patterns, and tell stories.

Quiet Time Literacy Activity
literacy

I like to create at least one quiet time activity for each unit or interest. I put this on their shelf to practice making words and recognizing lowercase letters. The tray is from the Melissa and Doug magnetic letters. The right side has magnetic letters and the right side has cards with space themed words written down.

Into Space Quiet Time Activities
math and literacy

I made this set of printables for my kids to work on during Quiet Time. The pack includes a mini-book about a trip to the space station, patterning cards, and a drawing prompt. You can download it for FREE on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Outerspace Puppet Show
literacy and arts

My parents took my twins to see a puppet show at the Art Museum during the time we were learning about space and it inspired this idea. They worked on a space themed puppet show together based on the book Moonshot by Brian Floca (see list above). They created astronaut, rocket, and lunar module puppets, created a story, and rehearsed. Then they put the puppet show on for me and various stuffed pals. It was a great way to celebrate and conclude their project.

More Activity Ideas


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