Outer Space Activities

This week my kids and I have been reading about the moon, stars and outer space. Since school is out and we have more time at home, we've been doing additional space-themed activities as time permits. Here are a few:

Sending our names to Mars: Fill out the form on NASA's website to have your name included on a microchip on the Mars Space Laboratory rover that is being sent to Mars next year. You can also check out the US and world participation maps to see how your state or country ranks. As my six year old said, "We're going to Mars!" After registering they were able to print out cool participation certificates.

(Mars, image courtesy of NASA)

Drawing pictures of the sky: This was my four year old's idea. He wanted me to help him draw stars after reading How to Catch a Star (reviewed by me here).

Making Star Finders: Another activity from NASA, this allows you to make a star finder to help identify constellations in the night sky.

(Quintuplet Cluster, image courtesy of NASA)

Checking EarthSky for information on the evening's sky. Tonight, for example, Mars will be visible just north of the crescent moon. We haven't done this (or the above activity) yet because with it being so close to the June solstice, the kids are in bed long before the stars are visible. However, we are going to a wedding this weekend and the boys will surely be up well past their bedtimes so we'll try some stargazing then.

Looking at NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day, which features a new picture daily, along with commentary from professional astronomers. I really love the image and activity from June 15, which happened to be my birthday:

Starry Night Scavenger Hunt 
Credit & Copyright : Original Painting: Vincent van Gogh; Digital Collage: Ronnie Warner


NASA's website has loads of activities, games, information and photos for curious kids (and adults!) You can find age appropriate activities for children in their "students" section.

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Space Books - Some of Our Favorites

On Monday I shared about two of my boys' current favorite books: How to Catch a Star and When the Moon Forgot. These whimsical stories speak to a common childhood fantasy of being able to capture a piece of the sky. My younger son, especially, is still at the age where he really wants to believe (even though he knows better) that he can have a star or the moon as a friend.

Those fictional stories are a good jumping off point for further discussions about the night sky and outer space. My kids have been fascinated with outer space for a long time. Last year my six year old even had an outer space themed birthday party at the local science center. My kids enjoy perusing the outer space/astronomy section of our local library and checking out books about planets and space exploration. Since this is a frequently read about topic in our household, I've decided to share some of our family's favorite non-fiction outer space books.

My Book of Space by Ian Graham



Though a bit out of date (this book was published in 2001) this book provides a good overview of the solar system, the phases of the moon and space exploration.

Our Solar System by Seymour Simon



If you have children who, like mine, love non-fiction and you haven't seen Seymour Simon's books, you must check them out immediately. Simon's books are notable for the magnificent photographs and accessible information. They can be a little long as read alouds--we often have to read them over two or three reading sessions--but can be enjoyed for the pictures alone. Our Solar System is the book that kicked off my six year old's interest in outer space. Simon has many, many books (including easy readers) out there about outer space and the individual planets (and the sun and the moon). My kids like all of them.

The aforementioned Our Solar System also kicked off my older son's obsession with Pluto. The first time we read this book it was the original edition from our old library in the Chicago suburbs. While reading through the updated (2007) edition he checked out of our current library, he was shocked and dismayed to discover--gasp!--Pluto was missing. Shock. Outrage. "What happened to PLUTO!" he bellowed from the back of the car. Thus I was tasked with explaining what had happened to Pluto to result in its demotion as a planet. Fortunately, my mother-in-law heard about the crisis and sent a helpful book to help explain it to him...

The Planet Hunter: The Story Behind What Happened to Pluto by Elizabeth Rusch



Hands down one of the best non-fiction picture books we own, The Planet Hunter: The Story Behind What Happened to Pluto is (like The Day-Glo Brothers) a non-fiction book presented in story form. It's the story of astronomer Mike Brown, his childhood interest in outer space and his discovery that led to the reclassification of Pluto. The choice to begin the story in Browns' early childhood makes it especially accessible to young readers, who may recognize themselves in the space-obsessed young boy.

In one of those cases where my child's interest in something piqued my own curiosity, I purchased a book about Pluto for myself. It was an entirely unexpected purchase, as I had not  read about space for my own edification since taking an astronomy course in college. (Full disclosure: I first heard about the book on The Daily Show.) Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson's The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet is a great book for non-scientists. Never overwhelming in its science-y talk, it tells the story of Pluto from its discovery to its eventual demotion. Humorous anecdotes, photographs, cartoons and poems about Pluto are also included. While it definitely does contain some decidedly adult humor and language, I have read sections of this book aloud to my six year old. He actually very much enjoyed it and wasn't bored at all, which says a lot about the author's style and accessibility. Also: he Twitters.

Here's his Daily Show interview with Jon Stewart. How can you not want to read about Pluto after listening to this guy? (Parental advisory: This is The Daily Show. There is a bleeped out word near the very end of the interview. I mean, it's bleeped, but since this is a family-friendly blog I thought I'd put that out there so there are no surprises if you're watching this with your kids.)

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Neil deGrasse Tyson
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

Boy, Were We Wrong About the Solar System by Kathleen V. Kudlinski

This is a great overview of how the way we see the world changes as science becomes more sophisticated. As the book says, "...it took a long time and a lot of wrong guesses to learn what we know today." Yes, Pluto gets a shoutout, as do gravity and the configuration of the solar system. The text--though a bit lengthy (I was surprised my four year old was able to sit still for the entire book)--is conversational and playful.

The Magic School Bus Lost in the Solar System by Joanna Cole

My kids love The Magic School Bus series. I love that they present science in a fun and engaging manner. I do not love reading every single caption, sidebar and dialogue bubble in these books. And there are several. On every page. Even so, you can't deny that the format of factual information contained within the fantastical fictional story appeals to kids. As the young students and their teacher, Miss Frizzle, travel from planet to planet in their spaceshipified school bus we learn about each planet's properties and position in the solar system. Much to my six year old's consternation, this book has not been updated to reflect current information about Pluto. Nonetheless, it is a library favorite--and not, apparently, just of my kids. According to our county library's online database, their 31 (system-wide) copies have been checked out a total of 2006 times.

***UPDATE 7/4/2010*** Apparently they have updated this book to include Pluto's new status. I saw the more recent copy in a museum gift shop last week.

Stargazers by Gail Gibbons





Gail Gibbons is another of those extremely prolific authors who has covered just about every non-fiction topic out there, it seems. Stargazers is an introduction to stars and the night sky. We learn about what stars are and how astronomers study them. Some discussion is given to constellations. Gibbons' prose is straightforward and informative, perfect for young readers.

These are but a few of the many non-fiction books about outer space written for a juvenile audience. Check the shelves of your local library or bookstore and you are sure to find more titles worthy of inclusion on this list. What are your kids' favorite books about space? Please share in the comments. I'm sure my kids would love some new title recommendations.


*Disclosure: As an Amazon Affiliate, I receive a small commission when books are purchased via the links in this post.

...like the moon and the stars and the sun...

"Look--the moon can still shine even when the night is darkest." - When the Moon Forgot, Jimmy Liao

This week I am trying something a bit different on this blog. Instead of the typical book + recipe post, I am going to expand my theme throughout the week to include other books and projects we do that relate to our featured books (yes, two today) and recipe. With school being out we have a lot more time to spend with our books, and more hours of the day to fill with activities.

One of my boys' favorite topics--a subject we return to time and again--is outer space. They are fascinated by our solar system and space exploration. Over the years we've built up quite the collection of space books, from non-fiction to easy readers to fictional picture books. Kids are just fascinated with the moon and stars, even from a very early age.

To begin our week I chose two books that complement each other in tone and theme: Oliver Jeffers' How to Catch a Star and Jimmy Liao's When the Moon Forgot. I simply could not choose one over the other because they read so well together.

How to Catch a Star and When the Moon Forgot are both tender, somewhat melancholy (yet ultimately hopeful) books that have several common elements. In How to Catch a Star the young male protagonist (the same boy from Lost and Found), who is a bit lonely, wishes for a star of his very own. He devises various (humorous and improbable) ways to catch his star and bring it home but none are successful until, by accident, he finds a star (or is it a starfish?) washed up on the beach. The last image in the book is of the boy reading a story to his star.

When the Moon Forgot takes an almost opposite approach: when the moon falls from the sky he is found by a young (also a bit lonely) boy. While the rest of the world is thrown into disarray with the disappearance of the moon, the boy nurtures it and nurses it back to health. They become fast friends but the boy knows he can't keep the moon forever. Their separation is devastating but ends on a happy note, with the boy's dreams "always filled with moonlight." Liao's artwork is quite distinctive and one of the things that led me to seek out his other books. While Jeffers' world is sparse and airy (the boy, with his large head and wispy legs, looks like he could simply float into the sky to catch his star) Liaos' world is dense, lush and grounded. His pages are filled with color. Just look (and marvel) at his cityscapes and open fields. This book was originally published in Liao's native Taiwan--where he is one of their most popular author/illustrators--and intended for an adult audience, though his American publisher (Little, Brown) catalogues it in their children's category.

Neither of these books are what I would call shiny, happy stories. Despite their ultimately satisfying endings they both have a melancholic undercurrent that may be off-putting to some. My children, however, are very drawn to them. I think something about the idea of being able to capture a piece of the sky, or have the moon or a star as a friend, really appeals to them. My four year old has asked to read When the Moon Forgot every day for the past week. Because it is a new-to-us book we have enjoyed talking about it and discussing our own theories about why the moon fell to the ground ("It was sick. It shrank. Its gravity couldn't hold it up anymore so it fell." -- Six Year Old  "It was sad and scared." -- Four Year Old) and how the boy felt at different times in the story.

We were familiar with both Jeffers' and Liao's works prior to reading these two books. Jeffers' The Incredible Book-Eating Boy is one of my older son's favorite books. I bought How to Catch a Star for my younger son for Easter because I thought he would enjoy it--something about its tone reminded me of one of his other favorites, The Monster Who Ate Darkness (reviewed by me here)--which, coincidentally, was illustrated by Liao. Last month we quite randomly found Liao's Sound of Colors at our library and after enjoying that as well I began researching his other books. At this point I learned of When the Moon Forgot, and thought it would be a good companion read for How to Catch a Star. I absolutely recommend seeking out both of these authors' other works.

Because we have been reading about the moon and stars, of course we had to think of some way to incorporate both into this week's recipe...

Moon and Star Cookies

First, I owe you a bit of an explanation. My kids have random made-up names for certain things. They refer to giraffes as goofs. And cashews have always been moon nuts, due to their crescent moon-like appearance. I challenged myself to come up with a recipe using "moon nuts" that also incorporated stars. I hit upon the idea of making star-shaped cashew cookies. I based my recipe on the roll-out cookie recipe on the Pamela's Products website.

Ingredients:

• 3.5 cups Pamela's gluten-free bread mix
• 1 3/4 sticks unsalted butter (I used a combination of butter and Smart Balance spread)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 3/4 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• handful of cashews

Additional equipment: star shaped cookie cutter(s)

1. Soften butter in mixer. Add sugar and cream together. Add eggs and cream well. Add extracts.

2. Add salt. While blending add bread mix, 1 cup at a time. Blend together.

4. Chill dough for one hour.

5. Preheat oven to 350*. Dust dough and rolling surface with flour because the dough will be sticky. (I used brown rice flour.) Roll dough out on parchment paper and use cookie cutters to cut out star shapes.

6. Carefully remove star shapes and place on baking sheet.

7. Bake for 10 -12 minutes, or until edges begin to brown.

We are only just beginning our week of learning about the night sky. Please join us here on Wednesday when I will post some of my boys' favorite non-fiction books about the moon, stars and outer space. And on Thursday I will be sharing some of the star-related art and science activities we have been doing this week.

*Disclosure: I received a review copy of When the Moon Forgot from the publisher, Little, Brown.

**I am an Amazon.com Affiliate. As an Affiliate I earn a small commission when books are purchased via the links on this site. Thank you for helping support Eat Their Words.