Planet Mobile

This activity is a great way to learn about the planets, their colours and their order.

Materials Needed

• Planet printout (Get it here)
• Scissors
• Glue
• String
• Coloured Paper
• Colour pencils
• Two Popsicle sticks

Method

1. Glue the two Popsicle sticks together to form an 'X' and put it to the side to dry.
2. Colour in all the planets with your pencils, I would suggest to not use markers as it can make it difficult to cut out.
3. Cut out the planets.
4. When the planets have been cut out trace them on the coloured paper, this will be on the back of the planet, and cut these out.
5. Attach a length of string to each spoke of the 'X' you made earlier.
6. Attach the planets to the string by gluing the string in between the planet and coloured card cutout. 
7. You can also cut out the names of the planets and glue on the coloured card as well.
8. You can add sequins or colourful cotton balls or just glittery stuff in general to make the whole thing feel a bit more spacey.

Teddy Bears

Shooting Stars

This is a good activity to get kids running around.

Materials Needed

• Thick cardboard
• Tissue paper - Lots of different colours.
• Popsicle sticks
• Glue
• Sequins

Method

1. Printout a Star and trace it on some cardboard. Make sure you use good scissors to cut out the star or it will be near impossible.
2. Using your sequins and whatever you can find lying around decorate the star to be as spacey or glittery as possible.
3. Using the tissue paper cut nice long strips of different colours and attach them to the back of the star.
4. Attach the Popsicle stick to be used as a handle.
5. Tell the kids to run around!

Rocket Ship

Here is a picture of a rocket ship we created. All you need is cardboard, paint and tape. Try it yourself!

Box Airplane

Great for role play and dress ups. Careful though, as there might be fights over who gets to use it. 

Materials Needed:

• Cardboard Box
• More cardboard for wings
• Paint
• String
• Tape

When you have finished designing and decorating your plane and it has dried cut some string and attach it to the plane so that kids wear the plane like overalls. 

Relay Games

Relay games can be a lot of fun and you can make them as interesting as you want. Making the 'baton' can be an activity in itself.


Below are two examples.


Suit Case Relay


What you need:

• Cardboard
• Tissue/Crepe Paper- Brown
• Glue
• Scissors

We did this relay in conjunction with an Olympic Games theme day. 

1. We got some old cardboard boxes, sketched and cut out some suitcases with easy hold handles. 
2. Cutting out some tissue/crepe paper we glue it all over the suitcases.
3. We stuck some travel stamps and stickers we found on the internet over it to give it some authenticity. Have a look here.
4. Most of our suitcases didn't last the race as some of the competitors were quite 'passionate'.

Rocket Relay

What you need:

• Different coloured paper
• Cello tape
• Scissors

We did this relay on a space theme day.

1. Roll some paper into a cylinder and stick it together.
2. Cut out a small circle and create a cone, this is for the top of the rocket.
3. Cut out some triangles for flaps on the side of the rocket.
4. To make this one a bit more interesting I put a hula hoop 'planet' at the end and the runners needed to orbit the planet three times before going back to home base.

Advice

Homemade Face Paint

Found this site today for homemade face paint.

All you need is cornflour (cornstarch), milk and food colouring/dye and small brushes.

It washes off really easily as well!

Have a look and try it out here.

Musical Planets

We held a space theme day at the vacation care I am working at and I made up this variation on Musical Chairs.

• Put out some hula hoops spread out over a large area. The number doesn't matter at the moment but make sure there is enough.
• Play space related music and encourage  the children to run around like spaceships between planets. 
• When the music stops they have to go to the nearest planet.
• You can change the game by introducing rules such as planets can only fit so many people or a planet might blow up once in while.
• We played for at least 40 mins and the kids ran the whole time.

Artist's site

School Holidays

Just a quick note to say that school holidays are on at the moment and I am flat out (that means really busy) at the moment running a vacation care program.

I assure you there will be more activities soon. Sorry for the delay!