Space Crafts for Kids

July 15, 2022 by Sarah White Leave a Comment

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?

Have you read?

Book Review: Record-Breaking USA

There’s something great about every state, and Clive Gifford has collected fun facts, trivia and firsts from every state in Record-Breaking USA: Celebrating America’s Biggest, Brightest and Bravest.

Each state gets a one or two-page spread, with facts scattered around the page and illustrations by Paul Hammond. The page lists a state nickname, the capital, state mammal, a fun fact and some famous residents, as well as firsts and record breaking events that happened in each state.

You’ll learn that Alabama is home to the biggest unclaimed baggage center in the world, that Florida is home to the most toxic tree (the manchineel tree, which has sap that can burn the skin and make people go blind, and its fruit is toxic) and that Iowa is home to the largest model of a strawberry, to name a few facts. Loma, Montana, holds the record for the largest temperature range in a day (from -54 to 49 degrees F, which is a 103 degree difference), while Ohio’s Geauga County once employed the smallest police dog on record, an 11-inch-tall chihuahua/rat terrier mix.

South Dakota has the world’s biggest Bigfoot statue, the cotton candy machine was invented in Tennessee, and a car that was 91 percent cake was driven (and eaten) in Washington state in 2021, now holding the record for the fastest moving mostly edible car.

As you might guess from these sample facts, kids will find this book funny and probably learn some things, too. In addition to the states there’s a page for Washington, D.C., where President Theodore Roosevelt broke the record for the most hands shaken in one day (8,513, a record that’s held since 1907), and the US territories, as well as records that cross state lines and span the globe.

Readers will also learn about records set in space and read what it takes to be a record breaker. There are even a few records listed that you can try to break yourself.

This fun and colorful book is sure to engage kids who love facts, and would be a great one to take along on your next road trip.

About the book: 96 pages, hardcover. Published 2026 by Wide Eyed Editions. Suggested retail price $24.99.

Have you read?

Leave a Reply