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This is a thoughtfully designed and engaging Space Week plan that demonstrates a clear understanding of age-appropriate learning for Senior Infants. Your use of hands-on activities, storytelling, and multimedia ensures that each lesson appeals to a variety of learning styles and keeps children curious and involved. The progression of lessons—from introducing space, to exploring planets, then moving into more complex ideas like shadows and alien life—is both logical and imaginative.
Your incorporation of resources like StoryBots, The Cat in the Hat, and Moonbear’s Shadow enhances literacy development while grounding scientific concepts in familiar, enjoyable contexts. Activities like shadow tracing, matching planets, and making alien slime are excellent for fostering inquiry, teamwork, and fine motor skills.
The KWL chart is a great strategy to encourage reflection and track learning throughout the week. Additionally, your cross-curricular approach opens doors for integration with subjects like art, literacy, and drama in a natural and meaningful way. This is a well-balanced, creative plan that brings STEM to life in the junior classroom.
During Space Week, using resources from Curious Minds and ESERO is a great way to inspire young learners in junior classes. Begin by reading space-themed stories such as Whatever Next! by Jill Murphy to spark imagination. Follow this with a role-play activity where children pretend to be astronauts preparing for a space mission. Using simple props like cardboard helmets or boxes as rockets makes it hands-on and fun.
Engage children in a STEM activity by making balloon rockets or paper straw rockets, introducing them to simple forces like push and pull. Explore textures by creating “moon rocks” using foil or playdough, encouraging observation and descriptive language.
Introduce basic space science with the “astronaut food” experiment—freeze-dried fruit—and compare it with fresh versions to discuss food in space. Use ESERO’s “Design a Spacesuit” activity to talk about clothing in extreme environments.
Finish the week with a creative art project, such as painting planets or making aliens from recycled materials. These activities encourage questioning, exploration, and excitement about space.
Lesson Title: “Hot or Cold? Dressing for the Weather!”
Class Level: Senior Infants
Strand: Environmental Awareness and Care / Science – Materials
Theme: Weather and ClothingObjective:
To help children understand the difference between hot and cold weather.
To investigate which types of clothing keep us warm or cool.
Introduction (10 minutes):
Begin with a short discussion: “What’s the weather like today?” Show pictures of different weather (sunny, rainy, snowy). Ask: “What do we wear when it’s cold? What about when it’s hot?”Main Activity (20 minutes):
Invite children to bring in or examine their own coats. Ask them to feel the inside and outside — Is it soft, thick, fluffy, waterproof?
Sort coats into groups: warm vs light, with/without hoods, zips vs buttons. Discuss why different features are useful in different weather.Experiment (5 minutes):
Place a hot water bottle inside two types of coats. After 5 minutes, check which one stayed warmer.Conclusion (5 minutes):
Talk about why it’s important to dress for the weather and how clothes help keep us safe and comfortable.This is a wonderful and thoughtful reflection on the lesson ‘Animals in the Cold’. You’ve clearly tailored it to the developmental level of senior infants, making science both accessible and engaging. The integration of storytelling through The Snowman and references to familiar media is a great way to spark curiosity and make abstract concepts more relatable. Your use of hands-on experiments, such as the ice and Vaseline activity, is excellent for helping children grasp scientific ideas in a tangible way. The inclusion of student voice through observation and questioning, along with the introduction of simple charting, adds real depth to the lesson. Overall, it’s a creative, well-rounded, and STEM-rich approach to early science learning.
Class Level: Senior Infants
Duration: 45–60 minutesThis playful and imaginative lesson introduces young learners to space and aliens through storytelling, art, and drama. Begin by showing images of space—planets, stars, and rockets—and ask, “What do you think space looks like?” Read Aliens Love Dinopants by Claire Freedman to spark curiosity and laughter. As a class, discuss what the aliens looked like in the story and imagine what aliens might look like if they visited Earth or lived on Mars.
Next, children create their own alien using drawing materials or playdough. For extra support, use the “Roll and Draw an Alien” sheet from Twinkl to help generate fun ideas. Encourage them to think about colours, shapes, and features like eyes, arms, or tails.
Students then introduce their alien to a partner or the class, sharing its name and one fun fact—e.g., “My alien eats moon cheese!”
To finish, play space-themed music and have students move around the room as their aliens. This encourages creativity, movement, and expression.
Wrap up by reflecting on what they learned and proudly displaying their alien creations. This lesson supports oral language, creative arts, and early science exploration in a fun, engaging way.
This is a wonderfully imaginative and engaging activity set! Starting with “Aliens Love Underpants” is a fun and familiar way to hook young learners, sparking their creativity from the start. The use of the Twinkl “Roll and Draw an Alien” adds structure while still allowing for unique, imaginative responses. The Think, Pair, Share strategy encourages collaboration and verbal expression, while the playdough modeling adds a fantastic tactile, hands-on element. Creating a persona for their aliens deepens the learning and makes it more meaningful. Integrating digital literacy through stop/start animation is brilliant, and involving a senior class promotes peer learning and confidence. A perfect cross-curricular, playful approach to space exploration!
In this fun and simple activity, junior students will explore how the Sun creates shadows and how sundials can help tell the time. Begin with a short discussion about the Sun: “What does the Sun do?” and “What happens to our shadow during the day?” Then, take the class outside with a pre-made or simple paper plate sundial.
Each student or group places their sundial in a sunny spot. Mark the shadow’s position with a pencil or marker at the start of the lesson. Return every hour to mark where the shadow has moved. Ask: “Why is the shadow in a different place now?” and “What does this tell us about the Sun?”
Back in class, have students draw or describe how the shadow changed. Discuss how people used sundials to tell time before clocks. This hands-on activity encourages observation, prediction, and curiosity about how the Sun affects our world.
This is a wonderfully engaging and well-rounded lesson plan! Starting with the planets song is a great way to capture students’ attention through music and rhythm, making it easier for them to remember the order of the planets. Using visual aids like printed pictures to compare planet sizes adds a valuable visual learning component, and laying out the planets in order—especially outdoors—makes the learning active and memorable. Incorporating a story and interactive questioning promotes language development and critical thinking. The art activity is both creative and personal, helping students connect emotionally to the topic. Including their own faces as astronauts is a brilliant touch! Your approach makes space exciting, accessible, and fun—perfect for young learners.
This is a fantastic and age-appropriate inquiry-based activity! Your approach encourages curiosity and critical thinking by starting with students’ prior knowledge and questions. The use of open-ended prompts like “What is the Moon made of?” naturally sparks imagination and inquiry. The hands-on element with materials like sand, rocks, and flour is especially effective for young learners, making abstract concepts more tangible and relatable. I also love how you incorporate real images or videos to help them make connections to the Moon’s actual surface. Guiding them to ask deeper questions helps build scientific thinking in a meaningful, engaging way.
Hi Everyone, my name is Elaine and I teach in St Peters NS, Monasterevin. My interesting fact about Space is that one million Earths could fit inside the sun!
In this inquiry-based activity, junior students will explore the concept of gravity through hands-on experimentation. Begin by asking an open-ended question: “What happens when we drop different objects from the same height?” Students will be given a variety of items—such as a feather, a small ball, a pencil, and a piece of paper—to test their ideas.
Working in small groups, students will drop each object from the same height and record their observations. Encourage them to think about why some objects fall faster than others. Guide the discussion with questions like, “Did heavier objects fall faster?” and “What else might affect how fast something falls?”
Afterward, facilitate a class discussion to share results and connect observations to the concept of gravity. Introduce the idea that gravity pulls everything down at the same rate, but air resistance can affect how objects fall. This activity encourages curiosity, observation, and foundational understanding of gravity in a fun and engaging way.
This is a fantastic and engaging approach to introducing Robert Boyle and the principles of scientific investigation! Highlighting Boyle as a founding figure of modern chemistry gives students a strong historical context, while your focus on Boyle’s Law makes complex science accessible through hands-on activities. Using everyday materials like syringes and balloons is a brilliant way to bring abstract concepts like gas pressure to life. The emphasis on developing investigative skills—through prediction, fair testing, and drawing conclusions—mirrors Boyle’s own scientific approach. Integrating storytelling adds depth and keeps students interested, helping them connect emotionally and intellectually with science. Overall, your plan not only teaches key scientific principles but also inspires curiosity and critical thinking, showing students that science is not just a subject but a way of exploring the world around them. A creative and effective learning experience!
William Dargan was a famous engineer from County Laois, Ireland, born in 1799. He is best known for building Ireland’s first railway from Dublin to Dún Laoghaire in 1834. Dargan played a key role in expanding the country’s railway system, helping to connect towns and cities and improve travel and trade. He also helped develop roads, canals, and even supported the arts and science. Dargan believed in using engineering to make life better for everyone, and he showed that hard work and creative thinking could solve big problems.
Inspired by William Dargan, a great classroom science project for 6th class could be to design and build model bridges or railways using simple materials like cardboard, string, and tape. Pupils can explore how to make their structures strong and stable, just like Dargan did. This project teaches teamwork, problem-solving, and introduces the basics of engineering—skills that Dargan used to shape modern Ireland.
This is a fantastic and engaging project that beautifully ties local heritage with modern engineering. Using the Killaloe and Brian Boru bridges as inspiration offers a rich opportunity for comparison and discussion, allowing students to explore the evolution of design and function over time. The hands-on element using newspapers and tape is especially creative and age-appropriate, fostering collaboration, critical thinking, and problem-solving. Setting clear criteria like span, weight, and stability gives structure while encouraging innovation. It’s great to see real-world engineering concepts brought into the classroom in such a fun and meaningful way.
Design and Make Project – Inspired by the Rock of Dunamase (Infant Class)
The Rock of Dunamase is a castle ruin in County Laois, standing high on a rocky hill. Its tall stone walls, towers, and gates once protected the people inside. For this project, infant pupils will learn about the castle through pictures, storytime, and simple role-play. They’ll explore its towers, arches, and steep hillside, using their imaginations to think about life in the olden days.
After discussing what castles are used for and what shapes they see in the pictures, the children will work together to build their own mini “Rock of Dunamase” using blocks, cardboard, stones, and natural materials like sticks and leaves. Outdoors, they can create a pretend castle hill in the sand or garden area.
The activity encourages creativity, teamwork, and early STEM skills like building, balancing, and planning. Children will learn new words like “tower,” “wall,” and “gate,” while exploring Laois’s local heritage in a fun and hands-on way. Their castle can become a play space for storytelling and imaginative games.
This is a rich and engaging plan that thoughtfully integrates biodiversity across the seasons with clear, purposeful links to real-world science. Your use of excellent course resources, such as the Tree Council’s leaf challenge and BirdWatch Ireland’s bird survey, ensures the project is both age-appropriate and curriculum-aligned. The inclusion of technology like the Seek app and tablets makes the learning modern and interactive, appealing to 4th class learners. The phenology diary and FIT Count encourage observation and data recording over time—valuable skills in both science and maths. The STEM bird feeder challenge adds a creative, hands-on element. Committing to regular outdoor learning every two weeks is fantastic for building environmental awareness and curiosity throughout the year.
