Theme: Space

Focus of the Week: Our theme series focuses on one letter, one shape and one color each week. I put together and printed this printable mostly for my two. I hung it in our craft room and would often point to the letter, shape and color for him to identify throughout the week.

September Themes: My boys (ages 2, 3) go to preschool twice a week, so I planned our activities for the off days - Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I printed a monthly chart as a way to keep organized and stay on track. Here's the fourth week at a glance:

MONDAY:

Planet Sort: After reading a few books about planets, I pulled out these Planet Cards from Mrs. Home Economist. Point out the details of the planets and you can sort them by size, closest to the sun OR print two copies for a matching or memory game.

Letter Activity ("S" Spaceship Throw): My boys loved making these paper plate spaceships. I wrote a large Letter S on the plate and they decorated them with space stamps and space stickers. We threw them around a bit and tried to throw them through this hula hoop left over from our Dragon Birthday Party.

Numbers (Moon Rock Throw): The boys helped me make "moon rocks" out of aluminum foil. I found the aluminum foil already in small pieces from the Dollar Tree. My three and two took turns drawing a number and throwing the same amount of moon rocks into the bin as we counted aloud. Note: Use the moon rocks for the sensory activity.

Sensory (Fizzy Astronaut Bin): Every week, I look forward to our sensory activity, because I know my boys love them so much! This bin has baking soda (left over from our dinosaur unit), astronauts & space cars, plastic letters (X, D, A, S - these are the letters we've learned so far in our themes unit) and moon rocks (balls of tinfoil). After the boys played for some time, I brought out squirt bottles filled with vinegar. Watching them play today was all joy. Discard the baking soda afterward.

WEDNESDAY:

Shape (Phases of the Moon): Print and show your child the different phases and shapes of the moon from Nerdy Mama - focus on the crescent. We talked about how the moon is always a circle, and the light we see on the moon is actually a reflection of the sun's light. We used a flashlight (sun) and shined it on various positions on a circle (moon) to demonstrate the different shapes of the moon. If you're up for another treat this week, you can make these moon shapes with oreos.

Art (Puffy Paint Planets): These turned out so neat! Print a page of various circles onto card stock and have your child paint them with different colors of puffy paint. We made blue, yellow and red paint. To make puffy paint you mix:

• 1/2 cup shaving cream + 1/4 cup white glue + food coloring (per color)

Once dry, glue the planets onto a piece of black paper.

Gross Motor (Astronaut Training Course): Set up an obstacle course in your home and have your children pretend to be astronauts training for space. We ran out of time for this, but I know my boys would have loved it! Add a slide, tunnel, hula hoops, under a table, tape or balance beam, etc. This picture is from last year..

Science (Outer Space Slime): My four and two played with outer space slime while I made dinner. I made our favorite slime recipe and added glow stars and planets to the slime. I didn't take a picture of ours, but the fabulous idea and picture below are from Mrs. Plemon's Kindergarten.

FRIDAY: 

Nursery Rhyme (Star Bright):We made these simple stars while we learned our nursery rhyme. You'll need a paper plate, contact paper and tissue paper squares. We talked about how you can make wishes on stars and my four still makes the cutest wishes to his star months later.

Star Light, Star Bright,

The first star I see tonight.

I wish I may, I wish I might,

Have this wish, I wish tonight.

Field Trip (Planetarium): I don't know why I haven't taken my kids to a planetarium yet! We all had so much fun learning about planets and playing at the science museum afterward.

Fine Motor (Star Sticker Constellations): This was meant to be an open ended project. We talked about how the stars in the sky can look like pictures of different things. I showed my boys pictures of the big dipper and other constellations from our library books. My two and three put star stickers on their papers and made pictures. When they're older, we'll try to make actual constellations like this.

Treat (Edible Constellations): We made these edible constellations with pretzels and marshmallows for a snack today from Mrs. Plemon's Kindergarten.

Space Booklist: And of course, we read often throughout the week. We mostly read before our quiet times each day, but we occasionally read during a meal or random time during the day. I placed these books on hold at our local library and we enjoyed reading them this week as we learned about space:

• Nancy Sees Stars by Jane O'Connor
• If You Decide to go to the Moon by Faith McNulty
• I Took the Moon for a Walk by Carolyn Curtis
• The Magic School Bus: Lost in the Solar System by Joanna Cole
• ME and My Place in Space by Joan Sweeney
• My Book of Planets by Elise See Tai
• National Geographic Little Kids First Big Book of Space by Catherine D. Hughes
• Roaring Rockets by Tony Mitton
• Space: A Visual Encyclopedia by DK Publishing
• The Moon by Thomas K. Adamson

Note: I'd also like to focus on beginning sounds, hand writing, cutting and beginning reading for my three (he'll be four in a few weeks). I will incorporate more of these ideas in this series, but also love this beginning reading program.