Elementary Programs Chapters
By Bonnie Langan and Anne Neidinger
Deep in Space
- Books to Share
- Riddles and Jokes
- Puppet Shows
- Crafts
- Science Experiments
- Guest Speakers
- Books to Display or Booktalk
- Bulletin Board
- Display
- Decorations
- Incentives
- Web Sites
- Professional Resources
Books to Share
Floating Home by David Getz.
I Am A Space Shuttle, I Love to Fly by Becky Cross.
Here in Space by David Milgrim.
Man on the Moon by Anastasia Suen.
Moo Cow Kaboom by Thatcher Hurd.
The Moon Book by Gail Gibbons.
Space Case by Edward Marshall.
Two Heads Are Better Than One by H.B. Homzie.
Riddles and Jokes
Share riddles from Spacey Riddles by Katy hall and Lisa Eisenbery, Unidentified Flying Riddles by Joanne E. Bernstein and Paul Cohen, and Way Out!: Jokes from Outer Space by Louise Phillips.
Puppet Shows
Moon Rock Soup
Perform the two-person puppet show, “Moon Rock Soup,” a variation of “Stone Soup,” in Amazingly Easy Puppet Plays: 42 New Scripts for One-Person Puppetry by Dee Anderson.
Space Creatures Meet Mother Goose
Perform the two-person puppet show “Space Creatures Meet Mother Goose,” a surprise for both the Goose and creatures, in Amazingly Easy Puppet Plays: 42 New Scripts for One-Person Puppetry by Dee Anderson.
Take Me to Your Library
Perform “Take Me to Your Library”, a puppet show about an alien coming to Earth, in One-Person Puppet Plays by Denise Anton Wright.
Crafts
Glitter Galaxy Craft
For directions for this simple craft, visit Enchanted Learning at http://www.enchantedlearning.com/ and search for “Glitter Galaxy Craft.” Enchanted Learning is children’s educational web site with games and crafts and more and is designed to stimulate creativity, learning, enjoyment and imagination. Part of the site may be accessed for free. With a $20 membership, additional pages are available.
Science Experiments
Aha! Science Handouts
Staff from the Carroll County Public Library in Carroll County, Maryland, created the Aha! Science web site with grant funding. It includes handouts at http://library.carr.org/aha/default.asp and a link to space-related programs. Explore the handouts and all the science experiments and share some of them with children at your library this summer.
NASA's Space Place
NASA’s Space Place at http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/ features science experiments, including the exploration of molecules using gumdrops, and an experiment testing space material.
Guest Speakers
Invite an astronomer or astronomy club member to talk to the children about viewing space and using telescopes. Ask them to bring a telescope to show to the children.
Books to Display or Booktalk
Book of Flight: The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum by Judith E. Rinard.
Comets, Stars, the Moon, and Mars: Space Poems and Paintings by Douglas Florian.
My Book of Space by Ian Graham.
The Mystery of Mars by Sally Ride and Tam O’Shaughnessy.
Space and the Planets by Kris Hirschmann.
Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon by Catherine Thimmesh.
Bulletin Board
Deep in Space: Astronaut or Alien?
Cover your bulletin board with a fabric with stars or other space designs. Enlarge clip art of astronauts and aliens, or print photos and attach them on the board. Take photos of staff members and insert their faces over the faces of the aliens and astronauts. Let the children write their names on die cuts of alien and astronaut, and add them to the bulletin board. Add aluminum foil asteroids and stars, and photos of black holes, telescopes, observatories, and the space shuttle. Hang Styrofoam planets.
Display
Include a timeline of NASA landings and explorations with photos and graphics from the NASA web site at http://www.nasa.gov/missions/index.html and http://www.history.nasa.gov/timeline.html. Add biographies of astronauts and nonfiction books about space and NASA.
Decorate a shoebox as a “space mailbox” and add it to your display. Encourage the children to learn more about the Astronauts by reading the trading cards and books. Supply paper and pens and invite them to write letters to the astronauts and share a favorite space book. “Launch” the letters by mailing them to NASA at the end of the reading club.
Decorations
Display furry aliens, rockets, astronauts, spaceships, blue and black balloons, and anything that glows in the dark.
Incentives
Ask your local parks department, natural science museum, or observatory to donate museum tickets. Or, work with your Friends of the Library organization to purchase them. Invite children who participate in the reading club to place their names in a box for a raffle.
Web Sites
Kids Know It Network
http://www.kidsastronomy.com/
This is a free web site for children to learn about outer space.
NASA-related Web Sites for Kids
http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/ NASA provides games, animation, and projects for children on this web site.
Professional Resources
Amazingly Easy Puppet Plays: 42 New Scripts for One-Person Puppetry by Dee Anderson.
One-Person Puppet Plays by Denise Anton Wright.
Spacey Riddles by Katy hall and Lisa Eisenbery.
Unidentified Flying Riddles by Joanne E. Berntein and Paul Cohen.
Way Out!: Jokes from Outer Space by Louise Phillips.
Aha! Science
http://library.carr.org/aha/default.asp
This web site created by the Carroll County Public Library includes handouts and links to space-related science programs.
Enchanted Learning
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/
Enchanted Learning is children’s educational web site with games and crafts and more. It is designed to stimulate creativity, learning, enjoyment, and imagination. Some crafts, such as the “Glitter Galaxy Craft”, may be accessed for free. With a $20 membership, additional pages are available.
Kaboose.com
http://crafts.kaboose.comanimal-seltzer-rocket.html
This site features crafts and science experiments for children, including the “Tiger Seltzer Rocket.”
NASA
http://www.nasa.gov/home/index.html
This main page for the NASA web site includes pictures, missions, and images. For a timeline of NASA landings and explorations with photos and graphics, go to http://www.nasa.gov/missions/index.html and http://www.history.nasa.gov/timeline.html.
NASA’s Space Place
http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/
Space Place features science experiments, including the exploration of molecules using gumdrops.