“So much universe, and so little time.”
-Terry Pratchett
Welcome to our space homeschool unit! This page should serve as a guide for you, if you are teaching your K-3rd children about space! If you are unfamiliar with what a unit study is, or how it works, I recommend you read my post about it here.
Our space homeschool unit presented itself as a HUGE topic for us to cover. I definitely needed to set aside two weeks for it, and honestly, it could have taken up a lot more time. In the previous weeks, we had briefly covered rockets in our Florida unit, so we only touched on the topic of rockets. Our focus in these two weeks was on the solar system, the moon, the universe, and astronauts in space. You can find a suggested schedule at the bottom of the page.
Books
If you are heading to the library, here are the recommended books that you should consider picking up for this unit. Normally, I would post some you tube links for the read-alouds for the books, unfortunately, this set only has a few, and we didn’t use them this time, so I can’t comment on the video quality. Here are the books:
- Magic Tree House “Midnight on the Moon” by Mary Pope Osborne – fictional book
- Magic Tree House “Fact Tracker: Space” – Will & Mary Pope Osborne – fact book about space
- Cosmic Science – by Jim Weise – a book of short experiments that are easy to do with supplies at home
- Astronomy for Kids – by Dr. Bruce Betts – a constellation mapping book
- Constellations – A Glow in the Dark Guide to the Night Sky – by Chris Sasaki – fun glow in the dark book about constellations, with a project at the end
- Moustronaut by Mark E. Kelly – a cute story about a mouse in space
- Space by Sean Callery – a large encylopedia style book with great pictures and facts
Big Bang Theory
First up, was to study the beginning of the universe. We watched several videos on the topic. As a note: these videos focus on the secular creation of the universe. Feel free to skip over this part if you teach your children creationism. Here are some of the videos we watched:
- “One Day a Dot” – Ian Lendler – This is a book about how organisms started from a tiny dot, and eventually changed into the human race. It is geared toward young children to make it easy for them to understand.
- Dr. Binoc How the Universe Works – This is a long series of Dr. Binoc videos, we watched the first 3 and then stopped.
- National Geographic Origins of the Universe – Short 5 minute video about the big bang theory
After watching these videos, we started a timeline. This timeline is going to take us through the entire school year. Our lessons are going to be in chronological order, so I wanted to have a display for the kids of the topics we learned in order. Our first page of the timeline was the beginning of our solar system. The kids drew a line on a piece of construction paper and wrote “4.5 billion years ago” on a hash mark. Once we had covered the solar system, they then added a picture of what the solar system looks like. We added onto this in the second week of our space study!
Solar System
Next up in our space homeschool unit, was to learn about the solar system and the planets. We read two magic tree house books: “Midnight on the Moon” (fiction) and a magic tree house fact tracker called “space”. We started with the “Space” Book before reading the fiction one. Chapter 4 is about the solar system. I created some reading comprehension questions for my 3rd grader. You can find my reading comprehension packet on tpt here. There are two sets of questions and an newspaper article activity. All you need is the book! (Note: I photo copied the pages she needed from the “Space” book with my printer so she could underline and highlight the text.)
We also watched these additional videos on the solar system over a snack. Read onto the next section to see some projects about the solar system.
Space Homeschool Unit Solar System Project
For our solar system project, I actually had a model on hand from Michael’s. We painted the planets and attached them to the different arms of the model (Picture is at the top of the post!). There are so many great solar system projects you can make. For example, on this blog, they created a model out of clay. We also tried one with air-magic clay, like the one to the left.
If you are looking for other projects, there is an idea sheet from the Magic Tree House resources website that shows several different projects for kids. We chose to create a space themed postcard. I found a free postcard template online, and cut it out for the girls. They were to design the card and address is to someone. This was a great way to incorporate writing into science.
Another way to practice knowing the planets in the solar system is to use a labeling worksheet. I created this coloring and labeling worksheet in my TpT store that can be used by students in 2nd up to about 5th grade. The sheet has a page for coloring and labeling and a second sheet with descriptions of each planet. The picture has a clickable link or you can click this link here.
The Moon, Comets, Meteor’s, and Asteroids
The next topic in our space homeschool unit, was the moon. This is when we started the Magic Tree House “Midnight on the Moon” fictional book. We read about 1-2 chapters a day. For an older child, you could start with another book on the moon. We also planned to do an activity with moon craters, so we watched the magic school bus episode called “Out of this World: space rocks” – linked below:
Projects
There were two moon projects to do along with these videos. The first came from the magic school bus about moon craters. Supplies Needed: flour, salt, cinnamon, marbles, foil, and a ping pong (or similarly light ball). You can find the activity here. We used a baking pan instead of a shoe box to drop the “moon craters”.
The moon crater project turned into us making play-doh, since the flour and the salt were already mixed in the pan! We just added some food colored water and it made some fun for the rest of the afternoon!
The other Moon project we worked on the next day was moon phase Oreos! We watched a short video about moon phases, and as the video went along, I paused it so that the girls could create each of the moons in the cycle. We printed out a free moon phases sheet from 123 Homeschool, it was part of a free moon packet on the page.
Writing Assignment:
During this study on the moon, I prepared an assignment for my 3rd grader, to write a newspaper article about the Apollo 11 mission. We used the Magic Tree House Fact Tracker Book as a reference. You can find this in my tpt packet as well.
Space Math
For math, I put together my own math packets for each of my kids. The little one I made a first grade packet, and my older girl, I put together a 2nd grade level math packet for her, to help review some addition facts. Each packet has 8 sheets of math with a space theme. You can find both the packets on my teachers pay teachers store by clicking the links! (Since creating this post, I have also created a packet for 3rd graders and 4th graders!)
Stars and Astronomy
Next up in our space homeschool unit was to learn about astronomy. We watched this Dr. Binoc video about the types of stars:
Then we browsed through the two constellation books from the library. If you were unable to get the books, you could look online to view some various constellations. I had each of my girls select their favorite constellation (they both picked the same one- Pegasus). Once your child has made their selection, grab a black piece of construction paper and a white crayon or colored pencil. Have them draw out the star pattern and connect the dots. My kids wrote the name of the constellation and I had my older daughter write one fact about the Pegasus as well.
Next was the fun part, we converted these into gummy constellations! We used some toothpicks from our kitchen, and some packs of gummies, and the kids created the star patterns with the gummies. They didn’t last long before they were eaten!
Last up on our stars section, was a fun mystery science video and activity. If you aren’t familiar with mystery science, they offer free lessons and activities for children both homeschooled and in a traditional classroom. Although some of their activities are a paid membership, many are free! This is the one we did: “Mystery science: why do stars come out at night?” If you aren’t able to access mystery science, I highly recommend doing the other constellation project in back of the book “Constellations – A Glow in the Dark Guide to the Night Sky” – by Chris Sasaki. It is a shoe box constellation viewer.
Mars Colony
Lastly, we read about the future of space exploration and the possibility of life on another planet. My girls completed a writing assignment about life in other places on the planet. The prompt was “Do you believe there is life on another planet? Why or why not?” I also set them on a mission: create a pretend mars colony with everything you would need to live in space. First, they needed to make a list of what a space city might need. The list included:
- Air
- Water
- Food
- Transportation
- Housing
I set them to work with just a few materials: Styrofoam cups, construction paper, cardboard, foil, scissors, tape and some star stickers! They each made their own space city. Such a fun learning experience!
Wrap Up
That about wraps it up for our space homeschool unit! See below for suggested schedule and supplies. If you happen to live in Florida and are able to visit the Kennedy Space Center (located in Titusville, FL), that tops our list of fun field trips in the area for space. The center is pricey, but often offers promotions throughout the year. It is a full-day immersive experience, similar to a theme park! Picture here is the “rocket garden.”
Don’t miss our previous unit on Florida from the end of last school year. Dinosaurs are coming next! We watched this video by BBC on life before dinosaurs, to transition from space into our dinosaur unit. It is actually a series and there are several episodes to watch if your children are interested!
Suggested Space Homeschool Unit Schedule
Week 1
- Monday: Big Bang Theory and Timeline, Start Magic Tree House “Space” Book
- Tuesday: Solar system books, videos, reading comprehension about “Space” Book
- Wednesday: Solar system model and space postcards
- Thursday: Space Math packets, Watch Magic School Bus & do space craters activity
Week 2
- Monday: Start Magic Tree house “Midnight on the Moon”
- Tuesday: Moon phases Oreo activity, Apollo 11 Newspaper project
- Wednesday: Constellation paper projects, mystery science stars
- Thursday: Mars colony project
- Friday: Transition from dinosaurs to space: watch video on Paleozoic era and add one more sheet of construction paper to timeline
Suggested Supply List:
- construction paper- black and other colors
- pencils
- scissors
- play-doh
- toilet paper
- straw
- rock
- flour
- salt
- baking pan
- cinnamon
- ping pong ball
- marbles
- foil
- Oreos
- toothpicks
- gummies
- paper cups or Styrofoam cups
- push pin
- led flashlight
- cardboard boxes
- stickers