Space Crafts for Kids – Lesson Plans

If you’ve been looking at the amazing pictures from the James Webb Space Telescope with your kids, it might be a good time to do some learning activities related to space.

There are so many great projects out there but here are a few to get you started.

Views from a Step Stool has a cute galaxy sensory bag that’s a great mess free way for babies and toddlers to get in on the space-related fun. Or if you have a laminator you can make a solar system I-spy bag like this one from Research Parent.

This galaxy snow globe DIY from Figment Creative Labs would be great to make with older kids (it’s basically a calm down jar/lava lamp, which kids of all ages need!) Or make galaxy jars with this tutorial from Mom Dot.

And of course we need some galaxy play dough! This recipe is from The Imagination Tree. (Warning from personal experience, black food coloring is MESSY.)

These marbled planets from Everyday Chaos and Calm are so fun and easy to make and you can use them to talk about the gas giants.

3 Boys and a Dog has a great set of scaled planet printables you can use to show the relative sizes of the planets. Kids can color them in and use them in projects.

These pipe cleaner constellations are a fun way to talk about the shapes people have seen in the stars, and they can make up their own constellations, too. Get the printables from 123 Homeschool 4 Me. Views from a Step Stool also has some good printable constellation activity pack with coloring pages, cards, a research page for kids to fill in as they learn about a constellation and more.

Add some fizzy fun to your space exploration with the erupting moon rocks from Learn Play Imagine.

When you’re talking about space you need a rocket ship! Arty Crafty Kids has a printable kids can decorate — and use to practice their cutting skills. And Highlights has a tutorial for a simple play telescope.

Talk of space often includes talk of aliens, so why not make a cute alien spacecraft like the one from Rainy Day Mum? Or some cardboard tube aliens, tutorial from Fun Family Crafts?

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Easy Sensory Activities for Valentine's Day

The celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is important throughout Mexico and other parts of the world. Her feast day is Dec. 12, and the celebrations honoring her appearance to Juan Diego in 1531 begin a few days before that.

Whether you celebrate yourself or just want to share about the celebration at home or in your classroom, Las Mañanitas: The Beautiful Celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a good place to start. The book, by Ernesto Joel Vega Rosales and Jeanette Gonzalez Seneviratne, with illustrations by Dana Sanmar, tells the story of a family’s celebration of the feast day in both English and Spanish.

They prepare with a novena, which is nine days of prayers and preparations. The children, Lucia and Pablo, are given special outfits made by their grandmother that look like what Juan Diego might have worn when he saw Our Lady. The book describes the prayers that are made each day, such as a prayer for respect for life, for families and for the indigenous people of the Americas, to name a few.

As told in the book, Juan Diego was a native Mexican born near modern day Mexico City. His given name was Cuaauhtlatoatzin, which means “He who speaks like an eagle.” When he converted to Christianity his name was changed to Juan Diego, and as he walked to church he passed a hill called Tepeyac. One day he heard the birds singing especially beautifully and a voice called him to go to the top of the hill.

There he saw Our Lady of Guadalupe, who asked him to tell the bishop she wanted a chapel built in her name at the foot of the hill. The bishop asked for a sign that Juan Diego really saw her, and later she had him collect flowers that she blessed and take them to the bishop. When Juan Diego dropped the flowers, an image of Our Lady could be seen on his cloak, which is still on display in her basilica to this day.

The feast day is celebrated as mañanitas, which includes singing, indigenous music and dancing, and children presenting flowers to Our Lady. Juan Diego is remembered today as being humble, brave and faithful, and was the first indigenous American made a saint.

The book is colorful and tells the story in a clear way, and it’s fun to have it both in English and Spanish if you teach Spanish or speak Spanish at home or in the classroom. It’s a great way to learn the basics of the celebration and the story of Juan Diego and why he is still remembered today.

About the book: 40 pages, paperback, published 2024 by Loyola Press. Suggested retail price $14.99.

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