The Final Frontier

Space in a fascinating topic to my children right now. In all honesty, I'm probably just as fascinated to learn all the 'basics' about the Final Frontier, because back when I was in school and was suppose to learn about Space, I never paid attention. I was just one of those kids who didn't like sitting in a classroom reading a book or listening to a teacher. I wanted to be at the Planetarium! Or outdoors at night with a telescope trying to map the stars. I'm a hands on kinda gal, and I guess genetics passed on to my kids who are hands on as well.

My 4 year old son turns 5 soon, and for his birthday he wants a REAL rocketship. He's been living in an imaginary world lately where he has a secret Aunt up in space, lots of friends he visits every night in space, and if he ever doesn't get his way down here on Earth, he'll say things like 'That's okay, I get to eat Plenty of cookies up in space'.

It seemed only fitting that we now dive in (or rocket up) to learning all about Space. And what better way to kick off this topic than by building our very own Solar System!

My kids (and I!) had so much fun with this messy and colourful project. The planets look nicely now hanging in our living room nearby to our paper tissue stars. Next project is making Sun & Moon Maraca's.

Oh, and all the time we were making these, the children kept coming to me with many questions about Space, and, also with many facts they already know about. We're all learning, and who knows, maybe my 4 year old WILL find a real rocket ship in our garden for his birthday (we're working on it!)

Oh, and yes, we threw Pluto in the ensemble. The kids know it's not 'really' a planet anymore, but Pluto is just too darn cute to leave out.

It all starts with this...Flour & Water Glue

Then some of these

Which became these

Cover the balloons with strips
of newspaper dipped in the glue
(the messy part!)

Hang them out to dry

Coat them with a Primer

Let them dry some more

Let the Painting fun begin! (acrylics)

Let them dry some more

Then put them on display!
this isn't a great picture but they
do look nice in our living room.
Will look fab once we hang the Moon,
Sun & Stars