Have Fun Teaching Kids about the Solar System

One of my daughter’s consistent loves through most of her life has been space. She’s really interested in the stars and planets, has a telescope, watches Ready, Jet, Go. We talk about space a lot, and it’s a subject that a lot of kids enjoy.

If you’d like to delve into space a little more with your kids, here are some great resources.

Life Over Cs has a whole space unit study, where she’s collected fun printables and ideas for literacy, math, sensory play and more.

3 Boys and a Dog has more links to educational resources about space, including online activities from NASA, the Exploratorium, the Lunar and Planetary Institute and more. I love the Exploratorium’s solar system model; just tell it the size of your sun and it tells you how big to make the planets and the distances between them.

And Research Parent has these great three-part solar system and universe cards, where kids can match facts about the planet or feature (like black hole and Oort Cloud) to a picture of the same thing.

These learning activities would be so fun to include in your own “space camp” during the summer or to have on hand for an interested kid to work with whenever.

[Photo: Research Parent.] Looking for Spacecraft kits? Check these kits out.

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Learning about Hanukkah is important for people of all faiths as a reminder that December isn’t just about Christmas and that their are many other important holidays that happen during this time. Hanukkah unit studies can give you ideas for incorporating the holiday into your holiday studies that happen in December, or to use at home for learning about people of different faiths.

Homeschool Superfreak has a lot of basic ideas for how to build a Hanukkah unit study, as well as FAQs about what Hanukkah is and why it is celebrated. This list is a good stargint point but doesn’t include all the details you’ll need. For example it says you can play the dreidel game but doesn’t explain how to do that or why it’s important. (If you need that information, this post from Mama Smiles is a good source.)

Teachers Pay Teachers has lots of great lesson plans and activities if you’re willing to pay a little bit to get some good content. Two I really like are this Hanukkah PowerPoint presentation from Shelia Melton, which provides a good overview of traditions, food and the history of Hanukkah; and a virtual field trip to Jerusalem from MagiCore, which includes lots of videos showing the city and activities like playing dreidel, drawing a menorah and making latkes. It’s a Google Drive folder and also includes writing activities and more for kids in second to fifth grade.

Kids Activities Blog has some simple printables with facts about Hanukkah and things kids can color in like a Star of David, sufganiyots (jelly doughnuts) and a menorah. These are great for learning the basics.

Homeschool Giveaways has a printable ebook about Hanukkah complete with questions kids can answer after they read. This would be a good one for older kids with good reading comprehension.

NurtureStore’s Hanukkah unit study includes a printable mini book, tons of crafts, as well as math and writing activities. I love the dominoes game that’s part of the unit.

And check out our previous posts for more Hanukkah crafts and learning activities!

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