Space Activities and Lesson Plans for Preschool
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Space Lesson Plans for a Space theme in Preschool
Kids love the mystery of outer space. They love to look at the sky, see the stars, ask about planets, the moon, the sun and aliens! Teachers and parents can capitalize on this desire and interest by creating a preschool theme of outer space. Lessons and activities about space will be exciting and engaging for preschoolers and kindergarteners. All young children can benefit from themed learning and let me tell you – SPACE is a winning theme!
Check Out My Downloadable Space Theme Printables
Pretend and Play Space Station
I have a full blog post with more details about how I set up my pretend space station for dramatic play in my preschool. Click here to check out the full post.
I also have space station printables to go with the dramatic play space station to help you get started.
Kids often tell me that playing in the rocket ship or space station was their favorite thing about preschool! Either that or it was at least their favorite dramatic play center of the whole preschool year! And I have to admit, it IS one of the coolest ones!! I love the drama and magic of making it a little bit dark, but having the twinkle lights that look like outer space stars with planet photos on the wall.
I also loved making the “control panel” for the space station using recycled lids of different shapes and sizes. I was able to make them turn by drilling holes and using brads.
I’m sure there are lots of other fun ways to add recycled items to your control center, but I used old keyboards, calculators, cords and plugs, and switches.
If you happen to have a large cardboard box, its not too hard to create a cardboard rocket ship! I used this one for about three years before it was really falling about from play and also getting frustrating to continue to store in my garage year after year.
Later, I invested in this pop up one from Amazon and I’m glad I did! Easy to store, not expensive at all, and I still had a door/entrance to the “station” because there was an entrance at both ends.
Build your own Rocket Ship STEM Activity
The poster is included in my Preschool Activities Pack on TPT.
I love providing invitations for students to create. This is a great way to include STEM in your classroom for a space theme activity or lesson plan.
I simply set out various materials such as magnet blocks, different stacking blocks, or sticks and cubes, etc. and ask students how they may want to create a rocket.
I love pointing out and highlighting the different styles and techniques students use to create an outer space vehicle or rocket. I also think it’s amazing to take pictures of their creations and hang them up at the center to show variations, progress, and encourage students to keep creating!
Space Theme Math Activity for Subtraction
BLAST OFF Counting Game!
Another wonderful space theme activity to incorporate into a preschool or kindergarten classroom is this “Blast Off” game that I made up as a way to practice subtraction and counting down from ten to zero!
Students simply set out 10 manipulatives such as space themed mini erasers and then roll a die. Then take away as many pieces as you rolled on the die and count down/backwards from that number and move the pieces off to the side to keep track. Keep rolling until you get to zero, then BLAST OFF!
I like to use a “straw rocket” to let the students send it flying once they reach zero. They inevitably want to play over and over again so they can blast off again!
The game and rocket template and instructions are included in my Space Theme Preschool Activities Pack here.
Smush Planets Art Activity
To be clear, I am not the the one who came up with this fun art idea, but I’ve tried it with warm colors to make the sun, cool colors to make planets, and all different colors to try mixing and it’s always fun!
Honestly, I like it best when I stick to just warm or just cool colors, but it’s up to you!
To start, I just trace a circle onto a paper, let the kids tell me where to squirt what colors, then lay a piece of plastic wrap over the top of the paint and let them smush!
Learning about the Sun as a STAR in our Solar System
We can create hands on learning about outer space for preschoolers with some simple supplies such as these!
In the pictures above, I was trying to share about sun being made of plasma and about the earth revolving around the sun.
Teaching concepts and lesson plans for preschool do not have to be complex! In fact, that sometimes makes this worse! Simply show a picture, give a quick explanation and let them try it, play, and use their hands to explore!
To teach about the sun being made of gas and plasma, I simply mixed oil and red water in a clear bottle to make a sensory experience. We shook it up and watched how things mixed and did not mix. We also pretended it was so hot! You can pass it around a circle and play HOT SUN (instead of hot potato) as well!
In the other photo, I used a pie pan, a spherical magnet toy and a ball to show how the sun stays in place and the earth (and all the planets) revolve around the sun in our solar system!
Sun Smush Art
As I mentioned above about smush planets, you can use the same process if you’d rather make a smush SUN!
Space Theme Sensory Activity
Creating a sensory bin to go with my themes every week is one of my favorite tasks! In this first photo I used kinetic sand and foil balls paired with rubber gloves and space toys (planets, rockets, astronauts) to create a magical space themed activity with “moon sand” and “moon rock” sensory play table for the preschoolers.
Space Theme Sensory Water Play Activity
This sensory table play included larger plastic planets than the first bin, glowing stars, purple water, sparkles, water cups and cylinders, and connecting tubes.
I like the idea of leaving things open for kids to play how they want within the space theme, but also providing specific resources that are great for learning. They ask questions about the planets, count the stars, sort the objects, and make STEM creations seeing how water will and will not flow through the plastic tubing! They also explore mass and volume of liquids as they pour the colorful water between containers!
Space Themed Writing Center
I have tried creating a couple different writing activities and writing centers to invite kids to explore writing and letters within the realm of the outer space theme. This one is one I loved. I simply rolled out foil onto the table so that kids can write and erase on it! And if at the end of the day, the foil is ripped or ruined, no problem! Roll out a new piece for tomorrow!
I put translucent letter pieces in the pie tin for kids to choose from. They can write right on top of the translucent letters, trace them, or just use them to know what to write.
I also have all these outer space theme words that I added to the pocket chart so the kids could grab and write a word. The words are included in my Space Theme Dramatic Play Printables.
Space Alien Letter Hunt and Write
These letter cards can be put in any location, but I enjoy putting them in a sensory bin.
I print and laminate the cards and then attach a paper clip after cutting them apart because it allows kids to use magnets or magnet wands to catch the alien and choose one from the bin.
After encountering a space alien, kids can find the matching letter on the recording sheet and write it down/trace it to show they’ve already found that alien and that letter.
These printables are available in upper and lower case as part of the space activity pack.
Space Rocket Themed Letter Activity
I used large butcher paper for this activity, but you can do it on any size paper! I drew these simple rocket ships and put upper and lower case letters on them.
I gave the kids letter dice and had them roll the dice and color the portion of the rocket ship that had the matching letter.
Space Theme Play Dough Activity
To make a space themed set of play dough materials, I first made black, glittery play dough.
Then, I added star cookie cutters (Bought from Walmart), silicon outer space shaped tray (bought from Michaels) as well as small toys such. as planets, astronauts and stars (all from Amazon and linked).
Play dough is a great way to build fine motor and writing muscles in small preschool and kinder sized hands. It is great for imaginative play, language skills, counting, and creativity.
Star Stamp Space Art
This is a super easy way to let kids count and do art together! I provide different size star shaped cookie cutters and
Roll and Cover Math Game
If you’re a preschool teacher, you probably have a collection of mini erasers and possibly even some outer space themed ones like me! (I bought mine from Target).
I created this simple math game so students can practice rolling a die, subitizing (recognizing the number) and counting out that number of erasers onto a recording page until they reach 30, 50 or 100! I usually let them choose, but you can assign them a size mat based on what you think is most appropriate for their age and needs.
These game mats, as well as addition practice games that are all space themed can be found in the space activity pack here.
Outer Space Shape Creations
I provide some pre-cut shapes, but also encourage kids to try cutting their own. I showed them that they can use the shapes to create a rocket ship, but I’d also encourage them to expand and try making any space themed art they’d like!
Roll and Write on a Mirror
Mirrors and reflective materials are some magical outer space materials that make learning fun for preschoolers and kindergarteners alike. Writing on a unique surface makes things exciting all over again! I used these small reflective mirror papers, but you can use real mirrors or even foil.
Here I used my letter dice again to have preschoolers roll and then write down the letter they rolled.
Using an expo marker makes it easy to fill the mirror or erase after each letter!
Space Themed Number Cards
I’ve created these number cards as part of my preschool outer space themed center activities. I put them in a container with ice cream salt and the kids loved finding big chunks of crystal for counting onto the cards.
Constellation Space Art
Using star sticker, let the children create anything they want!
Some kids love to purposely try to create letters, an animal, shape, or picture, but some can also just randomly attach stickers and then connect them with a white crayon to see what pops out!
Afterwards, its fun to tell stories or make up stories of stars and constellations in space.
Collaborative Outer Space Art Activity
Try creating art as a class! Allow students to work on a large outer space art project one step at a time.
First, I provide “space theme” colors like black, purple and blue. I let students go crazy painting and mixing a large paper.
Next, we add star confetti.
You can add the smush planets or any other planet art your’ve created together.
Add star stamps or help each other cut out stars, etc.
The SKY is the limit. (pun intended)
Space Themed Math and Literacy "Codes"
Kids love cracking a code and pretending to help the aliens! These alien codes have letters or numbers in my space theme pack. They can me used to match letters and numbers using magnets or as a fun matching game to help the alien find the correct space ship!
Science Experiment Art Planets
Another fun way to create planet art includes the science of chromatography!
Provide coffee filters or watercolor diffusing paper to see the spread of colors.
We colored on coffee filters with washable markers. I think the Mr. Sketch Scented Markers work best. After coloring, spray with water from any refillable spray bottle and allow the colors to separate.
Once dry, you can attach to a fun starry sky background!
Space Themed Letter Matching Puzzles
The space theme pack also includes this center activity that kids can do with a partner or independently.
Match the upper case letter to the lower case letter.
Space Themed Foam Shapes
The space theme pack includes color sorting posters that are fun to use with these colorful foam shapes.
Also, kids just love to glue and create their own outer space scenes!
Use Stickers to Create Outer Space Scenes and Tell a Story
Stickers are great fine motor strengthening work for preschool fingers. Kids love freedom to create their own outer space world or picture of space with stickers or other materials.
Stickers can also be used in a fine motor journal. Stick a sticker, then write the letter of the picture you stuck! For example, Stick a picture of a planet and write a “P” or stick a picture of Mars and write and “M.”
Explore Concepts of Gravity!
Ramps, cars, balls, and many other toys can be used to see how things always travel downward due to gravity! What an easy and fun way to incorporate science concepts into your space theme!
Space Themed Letter Sounds and Reading Practice
These clip cards are perfect for practicing sounding out simple beginning words. If a child is more advanced, they can be done independently and even self-check using a sticker marking the correct answer on the back.
They can also be done with the teacher as a one on one or small group activity to practice hearing the beginning sound or blending sounds together! These cards are included in the outer space theme pack.
Constellations at the Light Table
Use black sand and gems and constellation cards to try to replicate or make your own constellations!
