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Hi Sile, some excellent ideas here to really engage the children. I especially love that the children will be so hands on. I can imagine how the messy mixtures would be a massive hit.
I would choose to do some lessons on rockets, it was a very popular topic this year in my Early Start class .I would start of by reading the story Zoom to the Moon by Pat-a Cake, it is a bright colourful book with simple text and lots of sounds to make which the children love to repeat. Using such a simple story is a great way to introduce very young children to lots of new space related vocabulary. We would then have a group discussion on how we could get to the moon and I would show the children various photos\videos of rockets, the moon ,astronauts etc. For a movement break we would each find a space within our class and pretend we are rockets launching into space by counting down 5,4,3,2,1 blast off. Repeating this several times by gradually making the countdown quieter/louder or slower\faster.
There are some excellent educational videos from cbbc on space available online including Tim Peake and Miss Mouse on the international space station and cbeebies stargazing-learning about the solar system.
A great hands on activity that we have done over the years is to invite parents in to make a rocket with their child. We collect up various materials like bottles, cardboard boxes {big and small], cardboard tubes, paper, markers, crayons ,glue, stickers, orange\red\yellow card for flames. It is just brilliant to see the children and parents working together, parental involvement is a massive part of the Early Start program. The children really enjoy telling their parents about all they have learned about rockets. A shared learning experience like this help children explore rockets through conversation and creative play while developing imagination, social skills, early numeracy and language.
Louise, I like the idea of a science journal as a way to keep all observations and samples together. It allows the children to record their observations, think about what they have learned, encourage curiosity and remember their learning. I know that children in my class have always enjoyed showing their journals to their parents which only reinforces their learning.
I would use a hands on science activity with the very young children that I work with as I firmly believe that when they are actively involved they are learning through exploring, experimenting, asking questions and discovering things for themselves. A lesson that we have done in the past and which is always a hit is learning all about ice. I would start by having a short discussion on what the children already know about ice, asking questions is it hot\cold, could we make our own ice? During a very cold snap last year we all went outside , each child had a small container and they poured water into them. When we went out the following morning the children couldn’t believe that their water had frozen . We brought all the containers back in and then broke into smaller groups to discuss how we could melt the ice, is there anything in our room that we could use? They shared lots of ideas , we used warm water, left some containers near the radiator etc , photographing their input and writing down their observations which we used for a classroom display during science week.
This melting ice activity is an excellent STEM lesson as the children are exploring science, technology, engineering and maths through fun hands on play.
Science: children learn about ice, hot/cold, changes from solid to liquid.
Technology: Children can use various tools from around the classroom i.e droppers, spray bottles to see if that will help to help the ice melt faster.
Engineering: They can think of ways to make the ice melt faster/ slower, can you freeze the water again and test out their ideas.
Maths: comparing, predicting.
I am also a fan of using a book to introduce a lesson, there have been some great suggestions on this thread on space themed stories that I will be looking up for the new year ahead.
Space and aliens activities: sensory play
A great way to engage young children when learning about space and aliens is through sensory play. It provides plenty of opportunities for developing oral language ,fine motor and early numeracy skills while enhancing communication skills. Children enjoy exploring the various materials used and it doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated.
I would begin with the story Aliens Love Underpants, always a firm favourite. After reading the story together we would then focus on the aliens and what they look like. Using playdoh I would get the children to make their own alien using a variety of materials, googly eyes, buttons, feathers, pipe cleaners etc , bringing in some early numeracy skills by asking for example.. “how many eyes will she have? will you give him one nose or two?”
Then the children can bring their aliens to space, which will be a large container with either black beans or dyed salt\sugar. You can use a variety of materials that don’t cost much to enhance your sensory bin for example using tinfoil to make meteors, painting stones, picking up small space themed toys from charity shops. Adding other items like containers, spoons will encourage the children to fill, pour, empty which will strengthen their fine motor skills and develop language skills. This sensory rich activity not only provide lots of fun but also many learning opportunities.
A super idea Aisling, especially as there has been so much excitement with the eclipse this week. And I love that you would link a bit of sun safety in too, something that is so important.
A activity that we have used in our Early Start classroom to learn about the moon is by introducing the story Whatever Next by Jill Murphy. It has always been a very popular book but this year we really extended the learning experience in lots of different areas.
We started off by introducing the story to the children by looking at the front cover and exploring the picture by asking ” Where do you think baby bear is going?, What is he in? What is he wearing on his head?, What can we see in the sky?” . introducing lots of new vocabulary by talking about space, rockets, the moon, astronauts etc.
Throughout the reading of the story I would ask questions like, how is he going to get to the moon, where is the moon, what will he see there? getting the children to fully engage as much as possible and repeating all of the new language they have been introduced to. If needed we could have a short movement break and pretend to be astronauts heading off to space in our rockets…5..4..3..2..1 blast off.
At the end of the story I would ask the children if they would like to travel to the moon and if so how could we get there which would lead to us building our own rocket. This is something that we did last year and it was a massive hit. The children loved sourcing the materials around the school and from home. We had a parent give us an large box that a delivery had come in and that was how we started . Giving the children such a hands on experience allowed them to interact directly with materials to deepen their understanding. For the moon itself we painted large pieces of cardboard white , mixing white paint and cornflour to make the craters. The rocket was a massive hit, we sourced astronaut outfits and various helmets, it was such a hit that other classes came to see it and it was then donated on to various rooms. We documented the children’s learning by photos and noting down their conversations which we then put in their learning journals.
This is a brilliant idea Fintan , getting children to be fully involved in this experiment will only lead to a greater understanding of the concept. Asking them to predict what will happen is a super way of starting the lesson and even for the less confident child who might not yet be ready to speak up in class they are listening and learning.
An idea I have to bring an inquiry-based activity into my classroom is a lesson on gravity using the nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty. The children in my room are very young so this activity is based very much at their level.
We would begin by bringing the children together to sing the rhyme , then ask some questions, where was Humpty sitting, what happened to him, did he go up or down?
Then we will build a wall using wooden blocks and use a real egg, allow the children to predict what will happen if he falls. After the egg falls we will discuss what happened, why did he fall etc, then introduce the word gravity. Gravity is an invisible force that pulls everything to the ground. Then we will do a experiment with some other objects from around the room like a pencil, feather, bean bag and get the children to predict what will happen if these objects fall from the wall too. Getting the children involved hands on will really help to keep them engaged. We could further this learning activity by getting the children to make their own Humpty Dumpty that they can bring home and talk to their families about why he fell.
Hi my name is Elaine, I work in a Early Start class in Co Louth. The age range of the children is from 3 to 5 years old.
An interesting fact about space is Even though the sun is very old, it is roughly only halfway through its life cycle! The sun is currently in a phase called “yellow dwarf,” meaning it is a medium-sized star. It will take another 5 billion years for the sun to become a big, cool star called a “red giant.” Then, at the end of its lifestyle (another few billion years!), it will shrink to become a small “white dwarf” star.