3-2-1! We're Blasting Into Outer Space!!!

     After a crazy weird week for us last week it was nice to be back to a normal routine. As you can guess, this week we learned all things that are part of outer space. Outer space can seem harder for little ones to understand mainly because other than the moon and the stars and the sun it is hard for them to comprehend. They cannot see it so it is not easy to understand. That is why I find some youtube videos and nasa videos much more helpful for them to begin wondering about what is all out there floating around that God created. Learning about outer space is important if only because it does help them open their imaginations up even more. Even for adults outer space is huge. Thinking about what it is like out there is somewhat daunting. As a teenager and college years I loved to get away with a small group of friends and l8e down on blankets or back of trucks or wherever and stare up at the stars on late Summer nights and wonder up at outer space, trying to figure out the meaning of life. My amazement of this started out younger by the fascination of the moon. I am sure most of you all can relate to the awesomness of outer space. Young kids enjoy learning about space, and planets, and the moon. My kid quickly said his favorite planet is Neptune because it is blue, his favorite color.
     Along with learning about outer space my kid and I also focused on the letter Vv and color yellow.

Monday:Intro Uppercase V/Intro Outer Space and Our Solar System
Books: My v Soundbox by Jane Belk Moncure
Eight Spinning Planets by Brian James
My First Dictionary
The Pre-schooler's Bible (Specifically the Creation Story)

Songs: It Takes A Village by Raffi
Veggie Tales Silly Songs With Larry youtube playlist
He's Got the Whole World In His Hands
The Solar System Song on youtube

Activities:
Intro upper-case V and Vv vocab words from picture dictionary. Work on uppercase V coloring page.

Play veteranarian

Intro outer space by using the Creation story. Now just because I am introducing this topic with the creation Bible story does not mean everyone has to. I chose to do it because I want my kid to know that no matter if it happened in a "big bang" or not, as Catholics we believe God was the one who was in charge. He said let there be light and there was.

Show my kid the solar system song video.

Using two paper bowls and green and blue paint we made our own planet Earth. Once it dried we taped the two bowls together.

Also we took turns pretending to be the sun and planet earth. The sun stands still while planet earch spins around the sun.

Tuesday:Intro Yellow/The Moon
Books:The Velvateen Rabbit by Margaret Williams Bianco
Moonstruck by Gennifere Choldenko
Yellow by Sharon Gordon

Songs:
I see the moon and the moon sees me.
God bless the moon and God bless me.
I'm A Little Vacuum (Tune of: I'm A Little Teapot)
I'm a little vacuum hear me vroom!
Over the floor and all across the room.
When I get all revved up see me work.
Cleaning up the carpet and sucking up the dirt!
The Yellow Submarine by the Beatles

Activities:
Review Vv vocab with picture dictionary

Pull out the vaccuum cleaner to let my kid explore how it works. My child has always been terrified of the vacuum so letting him be the one to get up close and figure out how it turns on and off with him in charge helped him be less afraid. He even helped push it while it was on which is a big deal dor him. He normally freaks out and has a bit of a melt down if it is turned on in the same room as him.

Intro color yellow. Use different shades of yellow paint for a yellow collage.

Intro the moon. Recall how the earth spins around the sun. Explain how the moon circkes around the earth. We go to the beach to visit my parents every year so i also explained how the moon helps keep the water on the beach from getting to high or too low. Since he has been to the ocean and remembers it clearly this was actually a fun fact for him.

Use playdough and toys to make craters like on the moon.

Wednesday:Intro Lowercase v/The Sun and Stars
Books: Energy From the Sun by Allan Fowler
A Visit to the Bakery by Sandra Ziegler
Stars by Don L Curry
Curious George Rides A Bike by H. A. Rey

Songs:
Oh Mister Sun by Raffi
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Vacation Song
(Tune:She'll Be Coming Around the Mountain When She Comes)

Oh we're going on vacation on a plane
VROOM!
Oh we're going on vacation on a plane
VROOM!
Oh we're going on vacation
Yes, we're going on vacation
Oh we're going on vacation on a plane
VROOM!
(You can insert bus, or car, or boat instead of plane if you want)

Yellow by Coldplay

Activities:
Review Vv vocab words. Intro lowercase v and coloring page

Play with play vegetables in corn kernals

Play with water in kitchen sink and use yellow food coloring for the color yellow

Intro stars, sun, constellations...use cut up stars or star stickers to let your child create his/her own constellations.

Thursday:Day Off for Health Check-up appointments...our school district took Monday off for President's Day...the beauty of being homeschooled we switched our dayoff this week for today.

Friday: Vv Vocab Review/Astronauts and Rockets
Books: Rockets and Astronauts by Karen Walace
Odd Velvet by Mary E. Whitcomb
Yellow All Around Us by Sarah L. Schuette

Song:
Violen song (Tune of Row Row Row Your Boat)
Play play play a tune
On your violen
Very loud and very soft
Play it once again

Zoom! Zoom! Zoom! We're Flying to the Moon on youtube

Activities:
Review Vv vocab words and work on Vv vocab coloring pages.

Play indoor volleyball...only with a soft ball and focus more on how the child interactively plays more than technique.

Yellow pom pom sorting. After the child picks out all the yellow pom poms have fun creating a pom  solar system.

Play with yellow playdough

Intro astronauts and rocket ships. Play dramatic play by pretending to go on a journey through outer space. Make a pretend rocket ship and if you go to the moon move and jump slowly (or if you are willing make your own "moon stepping stones for added balance), if you go to mars move around super fast because it is hot, or go to neptune and pretent to shiver because it is so cold, or go to jupiter and spin around and get dizzy because it is the fastest planet or crawl low to the ground meteor because it is not in an orbit per say... set up the play tents and pretend it is a space station... everytime you go to another journey remember it is a great time to practice counting backwards to blast-off!

These are just a few fun ideas to help introduce thw idea of outer space to younger kids. What crafts or other activities can you think of? Have fun exploring together!