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Lovely story ideas Kate. ALiens Love Underpants is a great story and a lovely way to introduce an alien themed lesson. I also love the moon story by Eric Carle
Great idea Darren! Predictions are so important before the experiment. Children always love a rocket themed lesson.
Theme: Exploring Space, Planets, Rockets, Aliens and the Moon
Day 1: Introduction to Space and Rockets
Begin by chatting with the children about what they already know about space. Ask them questions like “What is space?” and “Have you ever seen a rocket?” Then move into a craft activity where the children make simple paper or cardboard rockets, decorating them with crayons, stickers and stars. Before launching their pretend rockets, invite predictions such as “What do you think happens when a rocket blasts off?” to encourage imaginative thinking and discussion.Day 2: Exploring the Planets
Introduce the children to the planets using a colourful picture book or a fun planet song such as such as the Planets of the Solar System Song from Hopscotch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCxjuDePdCI . Talk about each one, focusing on simple features like colour and size. For the art activity, children can paint or craft the planets using paper plates, tissue paper or playdough. During and after the creative work, have a conversation about how the planets are different from one another.Day 3: Discovering the Moon
Begin the day with a short story or video about the Moon. A great choice is Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me by Eric Carle. Follow this with a hands-on Moon crater activity. Using trays filled with flour or sand, the children drop small balls from different heights to see how craters form. Introduce new vocabulary such as “crater” and talk about the Moon’s surface. For the creative follow-up, children can make Moon pictures using grey paper, foil, textured paint or chalk to represent stars and craters.Day 4: Aliens and Imagination
Open up a discussion by asking the class what they think an alien might look like and where it might live. Then move into a craft activity where children create their own friendly aliens using materials like playdough, pipe cleaners, googly eyes or coloured paper. This day can also include a role-play activity where children pretend to be astronauts meeting aliens.Day 5: Space Week Celebration and Review
Reviewing everything the children have learned. Talk together about rockets, the Moon, planets and aliens. Each child can present their favourite creation from the week such as a rocket, planet, Moon art or alien to the rest of the class. Finish with a sing-along of “Zoom Zoom Zoom We’re Going to the Moon” adding in actions and maybe even musical instruments. Close with a reflection circle by asking questions such as “What was your favourite part of Space Week?” and “What would you like to explore next?”That video was very interesting , it would be great to show the children to help them gain a sense of perspective on the scale of the universe.
Module 4:
Why Hands-On Activities Matter for Learning About Earth
Hands-on activities allow young children to engage directly with materials, making abstract concepts concrete. For topics like Earth and its environments, tactile experiences help children connect with the physical world around them and sparks curiosity.
When children explore through touch and movement, they also develop fine motor skills and teamwork, especially when activities are done in small groups. Hands-on learning transforms lessons about the Earth from something they hear or see into something they experience. This approach is especially important for young learners as it makes science accessible, exciting, and meaningful.Hands-On Classroom Activities: The Earth Where We Live
I really like the ideas in the module, the hot/cold climate , animals in the cold and what clothes to wear are ideas I look forward to incorporating into my Science lessons. I also thought that the following lessons would work for hand on experiences with younger children:Activity 1: Build a Model of Our Earth
Provide the children with a large balloon to represent the Earth. Give them blue playdough or paint for oceans and green or brown for landmasses. Together, they create a simple globe by shaping and placing the continents on the balloon. This tactile activity helps children visualize the Earth’s surface, including land and water distribution. This can be done in pairs or groups.Activity 2: Explore Different Types of Land
Set up stations with materials representing various land types such as sand for deserts, soil with small plants for forests, pebbles for mountains, and water trays for lakes or rivers. Children rotate through stations, touching and comparing textures, learning about the different environments found on Earth.Developing Science Skills and Enhancing School Self-Evaluation with a STEM Focus
What further steps could we take to strengthen a STEM-centered approach in our School Self-Evaluation?
Our school already has well-established Whole School Curricular Plans, the introduction of the new curriculum framework which groups subjects under the umbrella of STEM has highlighted the need to revisit our SESE programme.
With STEM and SESE identified as key focus areas, our first step will be to gather input from the entire school community. Staff will provide feedback during a dedicated meeting working within their class levels to discuss strengths and areas for growth. We will engage students through a combination of focus groups and feedback forms with younger children given the option to express their views through creative means such as visual arts. Parents will be invited to share their perspectives via a Google Forms survey.
All feedback collected will be carefully reviewed by a committee guided by the Leadership and Management of Schools framework to identify priority areas. From this analysis we will agree on one or two practical focused actions to pursue. These plans will be shared with the school community to encourage transparency and collective involvement.
Implementation will be monitored through regular check-ins including documentation stored in a shared drive accessible to staff. STEM and SESE should also be an item on staff meeting agendas.Lovely ideas Margaret. The children would thoroughly enjoy learning about earth through hands on experiences.
Lovely resources mentioned here Elspeth. The Stallarium app would work very well with this lesson . I also really like the idea of using the clip from the lion king to spark their interest.
Lesson: Exploring Constellations and Stars with Senior Infants
This lesson introduces children to the night sky by focusing on stars and simple constellations. I would start by gathering the children in a circle and asking if they’ve ever looked up at the stars. We would talk briefly about what stars are and how people long ago connected stars to make pictures in the sky, called constellations.
To get the children engaged and help them remember, we would sing the one of classic songs“Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” or “starlight Starbright”.
Next, we move to an art activity where each child creates their own constellation. I’d give them black paper and white crayons or chalk. First, we look at some simple constellation patterns like the Big Dipper or Orion shown on the Interactive Whiteboard or a projector on the ceiling if possible with the lights dimmed. Then the kids make dots to represent stars and connect them with lines to create their constellation patterns or invent their own star shapes.
I would talk about how people use constellations to tell stories or help find their way. This encourages imagination and listening skills.
At the end, children share their constellation art with the class and explain their star patterns or stories.Module 2:
Inquiry-Based Moon Activity for Senior Infants
In this lesson, I explore the moon with the class through hands-on investigation and group work. We begin by watching a short video of the Moon Landing to spark curiosity. Then, I ask the children questions like: What do you see? Where are the astronauts? How did they get there? Why did they go? This encourages them to share ideas and wonder aloud.
To add fun and help memorisation, we sing the Moon song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4srrN7uUAsU together. It’s catchy and gets the kids excited about space.
Next, children work in small groups of 4 or 5. Each group chooses a tray filled with sand, flour, or rice to represent the moon’s surface. They take turns dropping different sized balls into the trays to create craters. We discuss what happens and compare the crater shapes and sizes.
Throughout the activity, children make predictions, observe results, and talk about why craters look different and how they might have formed on the real moon.
To finish, each group creates their own “moon surface” artwork inspired by what they learned and shares it with the class. This encourages teamwork, creativity, and reinforces their new understanding. I’ll read the story Goodnight Moon.
I love the idea of using the story ” Can’t You Sleep Little Bear” as a way of introducing the topic of Sun and shadows. Torches are a great way to involve the children in hands on scientific learning.
Lesson Description: Exploring Day and Night Through Inquiry (Senior Infants)
For this inquiry-based lesson, I begin with a really simple question “Why do you think the sky changes? Why is it bright sometimes and dark at other times?” It’s amazing the range of answers you get at this age.
Then we move into a hands-on, visual activity. I use a torch to represent the Sun and a small ball or globe to represent the Earth. With the lights dimmed, I shine the torch on one side of the ball so they can see how one half is lit up, like daytime, and the other is in shadow, like night. As I slowly spin the globe, the kids start to see that it’s not the Sun moving, it’s the Earth turning. They love taking turns spinning the ball and holding the torch. It’s a very tactile way to help them grasp a big concept. And if there’s a few globes/ torches available it’s lovely to let the children do this in their groups.
After the demonstration, I let them show what they’ve learned through drawing. Each child creates two simple pictures: one of daytime (with the Sun, blue sky, birds, etc.) and one of nighttime (stars, Moon, people sleeping).
To wrap it up, I ask “So why do we have day and night?” and most of them can now explain it in their own words. Even if they just say “Because the Earth turns,” that shows understanding of the concept.
It’s a lesson that blends discussion, exploration, and creativity, and it opens the door to loads of other questions about space!I really like this inquiry based activity about gravity Wendy. Using different materials is a great way to introduce the topic of friction also. It’s always interesting to get the children to predict first as it really gets them thinking.
Making a marble run with recyclable materials is a great idea. I look forward to trying this in the near future, sustainable and encouraging their scientific minds.
Module 1 :
Hello ! My name is Deirdre. I love teaching about Space. The children are always so interested and I’m always learning new facts, there’s infinite learning opportunities 🙂 I’ll be teaching 1st class in September.
My favourite space fact is:
There are more stars in the universe than grains of sand on all the beaches on Earth.
Scientists estimate there are around 100–200 billion galaxies, and each galaxy can have billions or even trillions of stars. So the number of stars adds up to something like 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 that’s a septillion stars!
Compared to that, all the sand grains on Earth’s beaches which number in the quintillions actually fall short. The mind boggles!I really like the Marvin and Milo comic style insructions for the rocket activities. I based a lesson on the balloon rocket.
WALT: We Are Learning To make a simple rocket and understand the basic principles of how rockets work.
Introduction
I would introduce the lesson by showing videos of rockets launching and ask the children questions to elicit any prior knowledge of how rockets work.
Marvin and Milo Comic:
I would then show the Marvin and Milo comic strip on how to make a rocket.
Discuss the instructions: what Marvin and Milo did and the basic idea of how rockets fly.Making a Balloon Rocket
Setup:
Tie one end of the string to a fixed point (e.g., a chair or a doorknob).
Thread the other end of the string through a plastic straw.
Building the Rocket:
Inflate a balloon but do not tie it. Hold the open end.
Tape the inflated balloon to the plastic straw.
Launch Preparation:
Ask students to decorate their balloons with paper fins and drawings using markers.
Ensure all rockets are secure and ready for launch.
Launching the Rocket:
Pull the string tight and have students release their balloons, observing how the air escaping propels the balloon along the string.
Repeat the activity, allowing each child to launch their rocket.Conclusion
Discussion:
Ask students what they observed during the rocket launches.
Encourage students to think about other objects that fly.I would take videos and watch them as a whole class. I would also share the videos on Seesaw for the parents to see and to encourage the children to discuss this fun experiment at home.
There’s also an informative video showing how rockets work in a relatable way for children – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9g0FehS0H1E
Integration: I would teach the song We’re going on a Rocket Ship.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wE0qcTPGCVs&list=RDwE0qcTPGCVs&start_radio=1
