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I have chosen “The Planets” as the activity set because it offers a wealth of opportunities for exploration, discovery, and learning in a fun, active, and hands-on way.
Introduction
To begin the lesson, I would bring the children together in a circle for a class discussion to explore their prior knowledge about the sun and the planets. I would ask a mix of open and closed questions, encouraging all children to share what they already know. I would record their responses collectively on the whiteboard.
Next, I would read the picture book Adam’s Amazing Space Adventures to spark interest and provide context for our exploration. This engaging story would serve as a springboard for identifying and naming the planets in order from the sun.
We would then examine images of the planets and discuss key facts and features of each one, helping to build a deeper understanding.Planet Game
To reinforce the concept of the solar system, I would introduce the planet game. This interactive activity involves the children taking on the roles of the planets and the sun, physically moving to show how planets orbit the sun. It’s a fun and energetic way to support understanding.Art Activity
To finish the week, we would integrate our space learning into an art lesson, where children create their own papier mâché planets. Using reference images and the facts they’ve learned, children would be encouraged to design their planets with attention to colour, texture, and size to reflect what they’ve discovered.Hi, My name is Michelle. Over the years, I’ve found that children are endlessly fascinated by space. I’m excited to keep learning and gathering new ideas to bring into the classroom. My space fact is “The sun is a star- the sun may look like a big, bright circle in the sky, but it’s actually a giant star. It’s the closest star to Earth and provides us with light and warmth.”
Inquiry-Based Activity: Make a Bird Feeder Using a Recycled BottleEngage – Spark Curiosity
• Prompt Question: What kinds of birds do we see around us?
• Begin with a class discussion about birds pupils have seen in the schoolyard or at home.
• Go on a bird hunt around the school grounds. Use a simple tick sheet to record how many different types of birds pupils can spot.
• Discuss seasonal changes, focusing on winter and harsh weather conditions. Questions such as, why do birds struggle to find food during winter? and how might we help them?
Hands-On Activity: Create a Bird Feeder
Materials Needed:
• Empty plastic bottle with cap
• A pencil or stick (to serve as a perch)
• Twine or string
• Bird seed
Instructions:
1. Carefully poke two holes near the bottom of the bottle (opposite each other) and push the pencil through to create a perch.
2. Add small holes above the perch for the birds to access the seeds.
3. Fill the bottle with bird seed.
4. Tie twine around the top of the bottle to make a hanger.
5. Hang your bird feeder on a tree branch where it’s visible from the classroom window.
Reflect – Observe and Learn
• Spend time regularly watching the bird feeder as a class.
• Record the types of birds that visit. Keep a log or draw pictures of them.
• Reflect on what you notice:
Which birds come most often?
Do they behave differently in different weather?
• Extend with optional activities:
Create a bird journal
Use binoculars and ID charts
Research one of the birds spottedHi Lorraine,
I’m really excited about the idea of introducing an illustrator’s chair—this will be my first time trying it with my class! I also think creating 3D models is a great idea. I love how many opportunities there are to link this activity with other areas of the curriculum.
Hi Sarah,
I really enjoyed the Planets lesson too. The planet dance activity is such a fun and energetic way for the children to learn the names of the planets. Your idea of having them design their own planets is a wonderful way to encourage creativity and imagination—it sounds like a truly engaging lesson.
I also find this fact so interesting Aveen! I find when I share this fact with children I can instantly see there minds trying to get their heads around it.
A class plan to engage with Space Week.
My aim would be to celebrate space week in a fun filled action packed manner with lots of opportunities to learn from hands on activities. I would aim to ignite in the children a love of space and encourage their wonder and awe. I would aim to use a cross curricular approach.
Day 1: Rocket building and launching activity.
I would start the week with this fun, hands on activity. I would put the children into groups and encourage them to design and create their own rockets using materials such as plastic bottles, paper, tin foil etc.Day 2: Interview an astronaut.
I would ask the class to imagine an astronaut visited the school and came into our class. What questions would they like to ask the astronaut? I would look up some interviews with astronauts to show the class to help with the questions.Day 3: Space related science experiments.
I would carry out a few space related science experiments with the class.Day 4: Space Quiz
In groups we would have a quiz with questions that are space related.Day 5: Planet Exploration
Show the children the songs, ‘Planet Song’ and ‘We are the Planets’. Divide the class in to groups and give each group a planet to explore. In their group they must put together some facts about the planet. They will create their given planet using papier mache.At the end of the week we would have a space dress up day. I would encourage the children to dress up as spaced themed characters such as aliens, astronauts, Mr. Sun, Mr. Moon etc
Activity set: Online resources and tools.
There are so many excellent resources here that I would love to try in my classroom. These resources provide so many opportunities to gain a comprehensive understanding of STEM. There are so many online resources and activities available for teachers and for the children. Some of the ones that I would be most interested in trying and looking into more are-
• The ‘Astronomy Picture of the Day’ this would be a great resource to use as a prompt or stimulus. It would also be great to use for oral language. There is a new image available every day.
• Marvin and Milo, a super resource full of great ideas and activities for stories and role play. I think the children would enjoy the characters.
• Stellarium web, a fantastic website available to explore and full of so much helpful interactive and instant tools and ideas to use in the classroom. The planets visibility and the constellations are something that I believe the children would really enjoy.There are so many wonderful online resources and tools available to explore space. I’m looking forward to using these new found tools this year.
Activity Set: Space and Aliens
There are so many opportunities for hands on learning, creativity and imagination within this activity set.
I would begin the lesson by discussing what the children already know about space and aliens. We would briefly discuss the planets in the solar system and watch some videos based on the planets.
I would ask the children to design and create their very own alien. I would display some alien images. We would discuss some characteristics of aliens- the colour, how many eyes, heads etc.
The children would create their own alien and draw an image of it. I would encourage them to name their alien and briefly describe their alien, for example What planet their alien comes from? What food it would eat?Following the create and draw activity, I would get the children to create their own alien using different materials. Materials such as paper, tin foil, tissue or food wrappers work best here. I love the idea I read on the forum of creating a small space world area with spaceships and rockets. A space area where the children could play with their newly created aliens.
Following on from this activity we could have a lesson based on ‘Interview my Alien’, where we would interview some of the aliens to find out more about them. This could be a whole class activity or a paired activity.
I would choose the activity set The Planets. I feel this area provides lots of opportunities for exploration and education in a fun, active and hands on way.
Introduction: I would gather the children together in a circle and find out their prior knowledge, what they already know about the sun and the planets. I would ask some open and closed questions and write down all the information they provide collectively on the whiteboard.
I would read a picture book about planets, Adam’s Amazing Space Adventures. I would start by naming the planets from the sun. We would look at some images of the planets and discuss the facts to describe each planet.
I would play the planet game which would be lots of fun and hopefully the children would remember some of the names of the planets and begin to understand that the planets revolve around the sun.
I would show the children the video of the song, Planet Song and encourage the children to join in and sing along.
Finally, for the art lesson that week I would get the children to make and create their own planets using papier mache. I would encourage the children to focus on images they have seen and the facts they have learned about each planet and try to show this in their art work.
Hi Laura, this would be a such a fun activity to do with a class. It would develop so many different skills. I have built the Titanic with some of my class groups before. The ideas that they come up with are amazing. I can only imagine the space ships that would be created- fabulous!
Some great use of online activities & resources here. I haven’t heard of or used many of these before. I look forward to exploring further & using these fantastic resources. The children would be so engaged.
Thank you!Hi Michelle,
I think it’s a lovely idea to encourage the children to take photos of the stars at night & then display them. I’m going to put this on my list of activities to do this year.
Thanks!I love the idea of tracing their shadows with chalks in pairs. A fun activity to help the children understand shadows. They love using the different coloured chalks.
