Space

Personal Social and Emotional

Talk to the children about astronauts and what they do. Ask them if they would like to be an astronaut and why. What would they take with them on their space adventure?    Play a parachute game. Place a soft toy astronaut into the middle of a parachute and ask the children to work together to make the astronaut jump to the moon!                                                                                                                                      

Communication and Language

In a small group place some different Alien pictures in the centre. Encourage the children to describe them. Talk about colours, size, and number of eyes they have.  Hide pictures of planets around the setting. Take the children on a role-play space adventure. Provide cardboard tube telescopes for children to look through and describe the planets they can spot.          

Physical Development                                                  

Encourage the children to explore different ways of moving to represent different space items and activities. For example, crouching down and leaping up like a rocket lifting off into space; large, slow steps like an astronaut walking on the Moon. Provide play dough for the children to roll and mould, along with googly eyes, pipe cleaners, and sequins inviting the children to create playdough aliens.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Literacy

 Sing the rhyme ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star’. Encourage children to join in with the words and some simple actions.   Read the stories such as, ‘On the Moon’, by Anna Milbourne and ‘Whatever Next’, by Jill Murphy.                                                                                                                                                              

Mathematics

 Use the number rhyme, ‘Five Little Men in a Flying Saucer’ to practise counting. Invite children to take on roles as the aliens and, as a group, count how many aliens are left after each verse.     Make some ‘moon rocks’ by wrapping different materials in silver foil. Make rocks of different sizes and weights for children to explore and compare using a balance scale.

Understanding the World

Talk about day and night. Using the display photos, invite the children to talk about what they can see in the photos and the differences between daytime and night-time.                           

Expressive Art and Design

 Invite the children to explore colours and colour mixing, using different materials and textures to create their own planet.     Line some trays with tin foil. Provide paint and pens for children to use, to draw and create space pictures onto the foil.            

Focused Vocabulary 

Space, Spaceship, Rocket, Astronaut, Planets, Earth, Moon, Sun, Stars, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune