* Fast & Slow
 You will have to make a music tape before the children arrive for this
activity. Tape slow, instrumental music for about twenty seconds. Then,
switch to fast, crazy music. Every twenty seconds or so, change the music. Go
from slow to fast to medium back to fast. Tell the children to move the way
the music makes them want to move. To tie this activity into the space theme,
talk to the children about gravity. Explain that on the moon, the astronauts
move in slow motion but on the Earth we can move as fast as we like.
 
* Space helmet
 Bag  Straws  Crayons or markers  Long underwear  Cereal or oatmeal box
 Yarn or string  Paper towel tubes  Cutting implements (for adult use only)
 Tape
 This activity is good for everyday fun, costume parties, and, of course,
Halloween. First, make a paper bag space helmet. Glue or tape on straws to
simulate wires,tubes, and other important gizmos one would expect to find on
a space suit. (You can also draw them with crayons or markers.) The suit
itself can consist of long underwear or pj's. Before your child blasts
off,make an air tank out of an oatmeal or cereal box. Make shoulder straps
out of yarn or string (watch young children). To make an air hose, tape
several paper towel tubes together (slit the ends to make it easier to
combine them), then make cuts every inch or two that almost pass through the
tube as if slicing a loaf of French bread. Tape one end to the air tank and
the other to the helmet.
 
* Moon Balls (serves MANY)
 Ingredients: 2 C. Peanut butter 1 1/3 C. Honey
 2 C. Raisins 2 C. Dry milk
 3 1/2 C. Graham cracker crumbs (keep 1/2 c. separate)
 1. Mix dry milk, raisins, and 3 c. graham cracker crumbs
 2. Add honey and peanut butter, mix will (hands do best)
 3. Roll into small balls
 4. Place remaining 1/2 c. of graham cracker crumbs in a large baggie
 5. Place several balls at a time into the baggie and shake, then place on a
cookie sheet.
 6. Chill then eat
 
* Space Craft Simulator
 Every successful mission must be simulated in a fake craft. Have the
children sit very close to each other inside a rope circle. Lead them through
a take off, a bumpy ride and a landing. You will have to be animated to pull
this off.
 
* Galactic Mobiles
 Dough recipe:
 2 1/2 c. Boiling water 2 c. salt 4 c. flour
 Add salt to water, then stir into flour. Have the children knead the dough
until it is a good consistency for shaping. Let them roll the dough out and
use cookie cutters to cut out star and circle shapes. Each child should have
a couple of stars and a couple of circles. Don’t forget to put a hole at the
top of each shape for hanging. Bake shapes in the oven at 250 degrees for 2 -
3 hours, checking frequently after 2 two hours. Paint them another day.
 Creative Art-Planet Painting
  Put out the paint colors needed and supply them with plenty of brushes.
More than likely, someone will be unhappy with the outcome of his planet.
Remind the children that there are many planets yet to be discovered and
theirs can be one of those. Undiscovered planets can look however we want
them to look..
 
 
* Cut & Color Table-Star Gazers
 Give each child an empty toilet paper tube. Cover the end of the tube with a
piece of black paper. Let the children gently push a toothpick through the
black paper to create tiny holes. Give the children markers to decorate their
scopes. To use them, have the children hold their scopes up to the light and
look through the uncovered end. This will look like a mini-planetarium.
 
* Outside-Meteor Fight
 Have a good, old fashioned water balloon fight. This should be optional.
Some children will not enjoy having meteors hurled at them.
 
* We created a rocket out of washing machine boxes and used ice cream
containers from a local ice cream shop for our helmets. We also created space
suits out of white garbage bags using permanent markers. We attempted to eat
pudding from ziplock baggies through straws to understand how difficult it is
to eat in space.
 
* We wrote our own ABC's of space and created and named our own constellations
 from splatter paint star pictures. Then tell the students to spread out the
star pictures all over their sheet of black construction paper.When they are
done give them a piece of white chalk and tell them to connect the stars to
form constellation pictures.Then have the children name their
constellations.Hang up their constellations on a bulletin board, and title it
"In the Night's Sky I See..."
 
* Make a mobile from styrofoam balls that represents the planets.
 
* Make a moon walking area.  This is how....Place pillows all over the floor.
 Then cover the pillows and floor with a sheet.  Attach x-large sized thick
sponges to the children's feet with rubber bands for space shoes.  Let the
children walk over the area. Play space walk music for a real dramatic
effect.
 
* Just a simple experiment - decorate a lunch size bag with a picture of a
rocket or shuttle and show the children the principle of flight by blowing up
a balloon, inserting it into the bag, and then turning it loose and having
the bag "take-off' into space.  My 4 year olds wanted to do this all day
long.  We also made rocket airplanes(out of paper), each varying in size, and
threw them and measured the distance they each traveled.  Have the children
guess ahead of time which one will go the farthest.
 
* Moon Craters- Use the bubble wrap that comes in packages and covered it with
plaster of paris.  Let dry and peel off.  Wouldn't this look like moon
craters or such?  Then they let the children paint it.  I might try it and
see what happens!  Create your own planet surface!
 
* Rocketships
 Materials: Toilet tissue tubes, Aluminum foil, 1/2 circle taped or stapled
into cone shape, Glue, Brushes, Crepe paper strips (red), Tape.
 1. Keep circle halves cut and ready to use. (A coffee can lid makes the
perfect size nozzle if cut in half.)
 2. give each child a toilet tissue roll and a sheet of aluminum foil to wrap
around the roll. Staple together the half circle to make a cone shape.
 3. Child should glue the cone onto the roll.
 4. Now tape on crepe paper 'flames' from the bottom of the roll.
 
* Starlight mobile
 Use cookie cutter shapes for moon crescents & stars (or draw your own) to
trace a moon crescent & three stars. Trace around each shape twice onto
aluminum foil and cut out the traced figures. Glue the foil crescents to each
side of the cardboard moon. Glue tinsel to each of the cardboard stars. Glue
the foil stars to each side of the cardboard stars. Tape a dark-colored
thread from each star to the moon. Glue a long piece of thread along the
inside curve of the moon.When the glue dries, hang the mobile in your window.