This post will give you some space play inspiration and space book recommendations.
Man on the Moon
Here’s a little Man on the Moon story sack I set up for our daughter to coincide with the Harvest Moon this year. We’ve been following Raising Little Shoots Exploring Nature with Children curriculum for the last couple of weeks and so we’ve had lots of moon related activities. Story sacks are one of our favourite things to share together.
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Man on the Moon by Simon Bartram is a delightful read. Bob, the man on the moon is such a jolly, lovely guy. He knows everything about the moon and there are certainly no aliens! It’s a great book for sequencing parts of a story and lots of mathematical opportunities too, especially related to time.
When making story sacks I try to collect and make resources for characters, setting and props to help bring the story to life. I’ve written a blog post on setting up story sacks here that you might find helpful.
Here’s a couple of links to some planning documents that you could pick and choose ideas out of. Teach Primary. Power of Reading.
Man on the Moon Resources
- Man on the Moon text by Simon Bartram
- Number Numerals – SumBlox
- Letters – Reelwood
- Rocket is a chalk house decorated using Chalkola chalk pens
- Astronaut and Aliens – Flockmen
- Moon – It’s a musical instrument – you could always cut one out of card or paper
- Stars – I’ve had these years and no clue where they came from, sorry. Again you could make these.
Space Book Love
Certain topics we really love in our house and space is one of them. We’ve got a lovely collection of space books both fiction and non-fiction. Do you have favourites?
- The Skies Above My Eyes – @yuvalzommer and Charlotte Guillian
- Living in Space – @usborne_books
- Peep Inside Space – Usborne Publishing
- Aliens Love Underpants Save the World – Claire Freedman Ben Cort – @simonkidsuk
- Planetarium – Raman Prinja – @bigpicturepress
- Fold-out Solar System – Usborne Publishing
- Man on the Moon – Simon Bartram – @templarbooks
- Whatever Next – Jill Murphy – @macmillankidsuk @panmacmillan
- Moon – Patricia Hegarty and @britta_teckentrup_artworks – @littletigerbooks
- Starbird – @sharonkingchai – @twohootsbooks
- Moon – Usborne Publishing
- The Whale the Sea and the Stars – @seasidespirit – @florisbooks
- Child of Galaxies – @blake_nuto and @charlotte.ager – @flyingeyebooks @bouncesalesandmarketing
Another favourite space book is the wonderful Barefoot Books Solar System. It’s interactive and glow in the dark. Marketed for children age 8-12, yet Floss enjoys looking at it and I share little snippets of the text with her and she’s 4. Also, if you’re an adult who loves children’s non fiction this one would make a great addition to your collection.
I love the illustrations and the layout of the book is really well thought out. It’s a great way to explore more complex ideas through accessible chunks of text. I love the little Did You Know? flap boxes – you’re never too old for flaps in books! Thanks Barefoot Book for sending us this copy. Here’s a little peep inside video of this incredible book…
Space Play
We also love sensory tray play in our house. Here’s a link to one of our space play set ups and how we set them up. I’d love you to leave a comment with your favourite space play activities. If you’d like to know how I decorated the little people here’s my blog post about getting creative with Flockmen here.
SumBlox are a favourite play and maths resource for use. Here’s a review I wrote about them if you’d like to know a bit more about these fabulous numerals.