space Archives - Page 2 of 2

Fine Motor Skills: Magnetic Astronaut and the Tape Rocket

June 25, 2015 By Deirdre

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We love to do learning activities with tape at my house. There has been a fire ladder, set of numbers, and mazes in our main hallway made of tape. Recently I placed a painter’s tape rocket ship on our refrigerator along with an astronaut magnet I made. My and I worked on several learning skills with them including fine motor skills.

Here are the skills:

eye hand coordination
positional words
tracking right to left
storytelling

Here is how we worked on those skills:

Eye Hand Coordination

My son had to focus on the tape as he moved the magnetic astronaut on the tape that created the outline of the rocket ship. The goal was to keep him attached to the rocket so he wouldn’t float around in outer space. It was easy to keep in on the shop in the large straighter areas. The tight corners took some planning.

Positional Words

We have been talking about positional words for awhile. In fact we did an activity with water and a straw last summer. The goal was to put the astronaut where each positional word that was called out asked him to go. We used the words over, under, inside, outside, left, right, beside, beneath, and next to.

The astronaut was moved around the refrigerator to display these words for the rocket and the stripes near the base of the rocket. Sometimes he was hung on the refrigerator hanging right side up and upside down. My son kept it fun and exciting.

Tracking Right to Left

The horizontal lines were placed near the base of the rocket to practice tracking. My son has it down, but it didn’t hurt to throw it in to the activity. He used his finger to track rather than the astronaut.

Storytelling

You can’t have an astronaut and a rocket on your refrigerator and not talk about it. My son and I took turns making up stories about the astronaut. Each story needed to included the following:

Who- The astronaut’s name
Where- The location the rocket is heading to or from
When- The astronaut traveled in the past, present or future
Why- The mission or reason for the trip
What- Things that happened on the trip

We have had a great time telling stories during snack time and summer homework time.

How I Made the Magnetic Astronaut

I traced a clip art picture of an astronaut I found online onto two pieces of sticky backed foam to make ours. Two flat magnetic strips were place between the pieces of foam. Then pieces of Darice Sticky Back Foam Sheets, 9 by 12-Inch, 12/Pack were cut out for his boots, face shield, and collar.

You don’t have to have magnetic astronaut to do this activity. An animal magnet or a picture of your child with a magnet glued to it would be just as fun.

I am participating in a fun series this week with awesomely talented bloggers called Craft Closet Boredom Busters. Each day I will be sharing a fun activity you can do with your children along with links to the other bloggers ideas!

Here are some of the wonderful idea being shared on other blogs:

Giant Color Wheel Collage on The Educator’s Spin On It.

Paper Rolls Animals on Frugal Fun for Boys

Craft Stick Puppets on Toddler Approved

Cardboard Crafts- 10 Pretend Tablet Games

If your children create tape rocket, please share a picture of it with me onFacebook.

Solo Cup Craft- Valentine’s Day Alien

January 14, 2015 By Deirdre

Solo Cup Valentine's Day Alien

If you end up with bunches of odd and ends in your crafting area or junk drawer, this Valentine’s Day craft is for you. During one of my clean out the cabinets and shelves purges, I found a bunch of things that I thought would be great for creating a Valentine’s Day sculpture. Those odd and ends along with a red Solo cup were placed out for my son and I to create with.

Both my son and I had colds last week! We both needed something do that wasn’t super messy and would make us smile. This space alien sculpture really made us smile. He just look goofy and silly.

Solo Cup Craft- Valentine's Day Alien

To get to the end of the sculpting process we had to try and try again to get the materials to work well together. We found it a challenge to use the washi tape on the craft tray on the solo cup. It really didn’t want to stay in place. The slick sides of the cup just didn’t adhere to the tape. It took more than two hands to hold it in place until it stuck. We tried to get the pink and purple lids to stick to the cup. They just fell off as soon as we moved our fingers.

It might have been better to use sticky back wiggly eyes and jewel stickers to decorate the plastic cup. We could have used stickers to create the alien’s whole smile, eyes and around his antennae. We will have to remember that for next time.

We have tons of stars for threading leftover from a math activity. They ended working well over the pouch cap eyes. By adding some stiff elements to the base of the antennae they seemed to stay in place a little better. They were still a little droopy. (Maybe the alien had a cold too. When you have a cold you feel kind of droopy.)

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Read.Explore.Learn – Space Boy Learning Activities

July 19, 2013 By Deirdre

Space Boy by Leo Landry (2007-09-24) by Leo Landry inspired the space learning activities we did this week. Space Boy is the story of Nicholas who needs a little time away for the noise and commotion of family life for just a little while before he goes to bed. His home is filled with his sister’s crying, a barking dog, and the radio blaring. ( I believe his parents turned it up to drowned out the sound to the baby crying and the dog barking.) Oh! His neighborhood is noisy too.

He decides that he need to get faraway from it all so, he packs a healthy snack and puts on his spacesuit. Then he gets into his rocket and heads to the moon. (Apparently he has made space trips before.)

The moon is quiet and the perfect place to have a bedtime snack. It is also a wonderful place for a quiet moonwalk. There is something meaning on the moon. Nicholas quickly realizes that he miss his family and wishes his family could shared trip to the moon with him.

Nicholas rockets back to Earth and checks on each member of his family just before going to bed.

I think parents and children may both feel as Nicholas does at the end of the day. Taking a off for a walk on the moon is something everyone may enjoy from time to time. If only we all had a getaway rocket waiting for those days in our backyard.

What did we do to explore this book?

Sight Word Rockets on the Moon

Read.Explore.Learn - Space Boy Learning Activities

We used rockets on sticks and an old beverage holder to work on sight words. JDaniel was asked to read me the the word on each rocket. When he had read a word, he was able to land it into one of the slots on I had cut into the beverage holder.

One of the fun things about working with rockets on sticks is that you can have them zoom through the air and you can make rocket noises as it travels to it landing slot on one of the moon hills.

Space Science Experiment

I found a science experiment in a library book that I thought we could easily put together. The materials were ones we already had and it took just a little while to put it together. There were just a few challenges. Putting the holes in the top of the bottle cap with washer on top and the base of the soda bottle were a little tough.

Joining the two rubber bands together to feed through the holes as easy. After a few slips of the bands out of holes, we quickly secured each of the rubber bands with straws. Each of us took responsibility for one of the rubber band loop.

Adding the beans was super easy for us. We tried adding them by handfuls, but later moved to adding a bean or two at a time.
Once we secured the rocket and astronaut to the straw, we thought that the experiment would go smoothly. We turned the rubber bands as tightly as we could and then let the large straw with the pictures on it go and nothing happened. Literally nothing.

JDaniel suggested we turn the bottle upside down and try the experiment. It worked! The astronaunt and rocket flew around and around. I am sure why it worked better, but I am glad it did.

Rocket Snack

JDaniel has been asking for snack food creations lately. I decided to make him a rocket sandwich with a trail of blueberry flames.

When I finished it, it looked liked it was missing something. I cut out little pieces of a flour tortilla and a small grape slice to make an astronaut for the rocket. Some tiny sprinkles were used to give him eyes and a mouth. My husband thought it was clever. My son just like the way it tasted. I think we would enjoy another Space Boy snack.

How did you explore books this week? If you have a post you would like to share, please link it up below. Once you have added your post, please visit at least three others.

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