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Alien slime would be a great hands on activity for Space Week. I will have to try that with my class in October.
Activity: Rocket Mice
Start with a simple discussion about rockets. Ask questions like, “Have you ever seen a rocket? What do you think makes a rocket go up? Show the class a short video of rockets launching to get the children excited about the activity. Read a storybook related to rockets or space travel, such as “Roaring Rockets” by Tony Mitton and Ant Parker. After reading, discuss the story. Ask questions about what happened in the story and what the children found exciting.
Then introduce the main activity to the class ‘Rocket Mice’, teacher to demonstrate how to make the ‘Rocket Mice’ fly-how to place the rocket mouse on the bottle, then press the bottle quickly to launch the mouse.. Children would create their mouse by using the template and then each child or group would be provided with a plastic bottle, that would have been previously collected prior to the activity. Explain how pressing the bottle quickly will force air out and launch the rocket mouse. Bring class to an area for the rocket launches, maybe the PE Hall which would have plenty of room for children to launch their rockets.
Demonstrate Let each child take turns launching their rocket mouse. Encourage the children to try pressing the bottle with different amounts of force to see how it affects the launch.It is such a fun and simple activity to demonstrate that is hands on an encourages children to explore the effects of air pressure and force.
Module 4
Activity: Animals in the Cold.Start lesson with a discussion of how we keep warm when it is cold, allow children to share their answers with each other. Then lead them on from that with ‘I wonder how animals keep themselves warm especially in the North and South Pole.
Next show them two videos from youtube about the animals in the Arctic and Antarctic. ‘Walk in the Arctic for kids’- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-9xDztBhzE and ‘How do Animals survive in the Antarctica’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waasDglAZ04
Recap on what animals live in the north and south pole? What do we know about them? How do they keep warm? Blubber, Thick fur, huddling together. About how the penguin’s feathers and the polar bear’s fur are also covered in a layer of grease to repel water.
Main activity:
Fill a large plastic box with water, ice cubes, and small plastic animals that live in cold environments. Let the children explore the sensory box. Encourage them to touch the ice and move the animals around. Talk about how the cold water and ice feel, and how these animals live in such environments.
I think the Vaseline idea from the esero activity is a great way to demonstrate how the water rolls off the hand with the greasy layer and I will definitely use this idea in the future with my class.This is a great science activity and I will definitely be trying this activity with my senior infant class, it is a great way of exploring different materials and their purpose.
Activity: Space and aliens
Before beginning the lesson- Play the song ‘5 Little Men in a Flying Saucer’ https://youtu.be/2E3p_51tJx0?si=93csQJoTddG_ooL1 to begin the lesson. The song starts with 5 aliens in the flying saucer and they end up leaving the space craft one by one. (integrating maths)
Have a discussion as to ‘why do they think when the aliens were flying around the earth, that they didn’t like what they saw and one of them would fly away?’ ‘Would earth be a scary place for aliens?’ ‘What do they think is in space?’ ‘Do they think there are aliens in space?’ Display pictures of space, rockets, astronauts and aliens as prompts for discussion and for stimulus.
Read a space/alien themed book such as ‘Aliens Love Underpants’ by Claire Freeman and discuss with class the characters and the setting. This would then lead us into our activity of creating our own aliens. Each child is provided with materials to create their own alien. Teacher to encourage them to use their imagination. They can use googly eyes, pipe cleaners, glitter, crayons, paint, toilet roll tubes and colourful paper to make their aliens. Ask each child to name their alien and share a fun fact about it with the class like ‘what planet do they come from?’ to try and make links to previous lesson about the solar system. Children love this activity as it is fun and engaging, they also love to see what sort of aliens their classmates have made and to listen to the stories about the aliens.
Topic-Planets.
To introduce students to the planets in our solar system and to develop their creativity and motor skills through hands-on activities.Start with a simple discussion about what the sky looks like at night. Ask questions like, “Have you ever seen the moon? Do you know what a planet is? Can you name any planets?” Using our classroom globe to explain that earth is a planet, like the other planets in our solar system and we live on it. Show them the planet song on youtube, that names each planet and gives them a fact about each one. Every year the children seem to love this song https://youtu.be/mQrlgH97v94?si=zb88ECHUB9JaIESa.
Main Activity: To create a Solar System Mobile.
Demonstrate to the class how to create the mobile and then in small groups, help the children assemble a solar system mobile. Children use a large piece of cardboard or a paper plate as the base. Attach strings to hang the planets that they painted and cut out in their relative positions around the “sun” (a larger yellow painted circle). After creating their mobile children can discuss the order of the planets from the sun and their relative sizes and if they can remember any facts about any of the planets.Hi Laura that is a great idea and love how it is hands on and it allows the children to view shadows at different times of the day.
Hi,
My name is Stephanie and I teach in an infant school. This year I have Senior Infants.My favourite space fact is that black holes are formed from a massive star dying and the gravity within a black hole is so strong that not even light can escape.
how you would use one inquiry-based activity for senior infants in your classroom:
This year my senior infant class really enjoyed the ‘sink or float’ experiment as it was hands on and everyone could get involved.
It allows children to be curious and helps develop critical thinking, to work as a group and listen to others opinions and make predicitions. It is also important to discuss with the class about how it doesn’t matter if your prediction is right or wrong, as both results teach us something new.
This activity allowed children to predict the buoyancy of an object and then test out the objects to explore their predictions. The children were encouraged to talk about each item and what material it was made of. Each group were provided with a cork, a plastic block, a stone, a coin, twig and a rubber duck. They were encouraged to think back to previous experiences with any of the objects and water, eg bath time and a rubber duck.. did the duck float or sink.
They had to record their predictions first with a smiley face if they thought the object floated and a sad face if they thought the object would sink when we placed the object in water.
The children then placed each object into the water and were encouraged to watch carefully to see if it sinks or floats. Then after each object is tested, they recorded the result next to their predictions on the chart. We then discussed ‘why we different objects sank and why some of them floated? How heavier objects often sink and lighter objects float and about how different material affects its buoyancy.
