You have come to the right place if you are looking for fun, engaging and exciting Space and Planet themed activities to do with toddlers, preschoolers and kindergartners. Our activities are widely used by teachers, moms, dads, child care providers and more!

All our activities are available at no cost and are free to print and share. Select below to get started.

Space Arts and Crafts

Moon Rocks
Go on a (pretend) space shuttle to the moon to collect moon rocks (you hide). The kids can then paint them.

Robots
Build Robots from various boxes and tubes. After they are dry, paint them with gold paint(or silver). You could do this as a group or individual project.

Moon Craters
Use the bubble wrap that comes in packages and covered it with plaster of paris. Let dry and peel off. Then paint.

Moon Book
Help the children write a story about the moon that goes with a picture of the moon that they painted.

Playdough Fun
Make stars and planets from playdough. Also use playdough as a backdrop for the sky and add glow in the dark stars.

Star Cards
Paint glue on index cards and scatter celestial glitter and confetti.

Rockets
Make a cone shape from construction paper and tape to make a rocket ship. Paint it silver, add glue and glitter stuff with colorful shredded paper with some strips dangling out the bottom. Run your rocket ship with you through the sprinkler and imagine you’re traveling through an ice crystal shower on the moons of Jupiter, cool spots of the universe!

Rocket
We created a rocket out of washing machine boxes and used ice cream containers from a local ice cream shop for our helmets. We also created space suits out of white garbage bags using permanent markers. We attempted to eat pudding from ziplock baggies through straws to understand how difficult it is to eat in space.

Star Gazers
Give each child an empty toilet paper tube. Cover the end of the tube with a piece of black paper. Let the children gently push a toothpick through the black paper to create tiny holes. Give the children markers to decorate their scopes. To use them, have the children hold their scopes up to the light and look through the uncovered end. This will look like a mini-planetarium.

Splatter Space
Have the children splatter paint a picture. Then tell the students to spread out the star pictures all over their sheet of black construction paper. When they are done give them a piece of white chalk and tell them to connect the stars to form constellation pictures. Then have the children name their constellations. Hang up their constellations on a bulletin board, and title it “In the Night’s Sky I See…”

Starlight Mobile
Use cookie cutter shapes for moon crescents & stars (or draw your own) to trace a moon crescent & three stars. Trace around each shape twice onto aluminum foil and cut out the traced figures. Glue the foil crescents to each side of the cardboard moon. Glue tinsel to each of the cardboard stars. Glue the foil stars to each side of the cardboard stars. Tape a dark-colored thread from each star to the moon. Glue a long piece of thread along the inside curve of the moon. When the glue dries, hang the mobile in your window. —

Galactic Mobiles
Dough recipe: 2 1/2 c.
Boiling water 2 c.
salt 4 c.
flour.
Add salt to water, then stir into flour.
Have the children knead the dough until it is a good consistency for shaping. Let them roll the dough out and use cookie cutters to cut out star and circle shapes.

Each child should have a couple of stars and a couple of circles. Don’t forget to put a hole at the top of each shape for hanging.

Bake shapes in the oven at 250 degrees for 2 – 3 hours, checking frequently after 2 two hours. Paint them another day.

Space Helmet
You will need: a bag, straws, crayons or markers, long underwear, cereal or oatmeal box, yarn, paper towel tubes, cutting implements (for adult use only) and tape.

First, make a paper bag space helmet. Glue or tape on straws to simulate wires, tubes, and other important gizmos one would expect to find on a space suit. (You can also draw them with crayons or markers.) The suit can consist of long underwear or pj’s. Before your child blasts off, make an air tank out of an oatmeal or cereal box.

Make shoulder straps out of yarn or string (watch young children). To make an air hose, tape several paper towel tubes together (slit the ends to make it easier to combine them), then make cuts every inch or two that almost pass through the tube as if slicing a loaf of French bread. Tape one end to the air tank and the other to the helmet.

Rocketships
Materials: Toilet tissue tubes, Aluminum foil, 1/2 circle taped or stapled into cone shape, Glue, Brushes, Crepe paper strips (red), Tape. Keep circle halves cut and ready to use. (A coffee can lid makes the perfect size nozzle if cut in half.)

Give each child a toilet tissue roll and a sheet of aluminum foil to wrap around the roll. Staple together the half circle to make a cone shape. Child should glue the cone onto the roll. Now tape on crepe paper ‘flames’ from the bottom of the roll.

 

Space Games and Activities

Dramatic Play
Have the children go on a pretend trip to outer space. They can pretend to pack all necessary items, put on their uniforms and get into a spaceship. Explain lack of gravity and its relationship to movement.

Challenge the children to walk, run, skip, hop, gallop, leap, and crawl through space. Go for a long nature walk on the moon and see what kinds of imaginary items children discover. After they return from their visit to outer space, have them close their eyes and try to remember what the life forms looked like.

When they open their eyes, they can describe them, draw them on paper, and dictate a description for you to write.

Box Rocket Trip
We created a rocket out of washing machine boxes and used ice cream containers from a local ice cream shop for our helmets. We also created space suits out of white garbage bags using permanent markers. We attempted to eat pudding from ziplock baggies through straws to understand how difficult it is to eat in space.

Meteor Fight
Have a good, old-fashioned water balloon fight. This should be optional. Some children will not enjoy having meteors hurled at them.

Space Trip
Pretend to pack all necessary items, put on their uniforms and get into a spaceship. After they return from their visit to outer space, have them close their eyes and try to remember what the life forms looked like. When they open their eyes, they can describe them, draw them on paper, and dictate a description for you to write. They make creatures with many heads, eyes on their feet, rainbow colored skin, etc. I hang the creatures on a bulletin board.

Moon Walking
Place pillows all over the floor. Then cover the pillows and floor with a sheet. Attach x-large sized thick sponges to the children’s feet with rubber bands for space shoes. Let the children walk over the area. Play space walk music for a real dramatic effect.

Goodnight Moon
Read the story “Goodnight Moon”, flannel board re-telling and then set up Goodnight Moon Room with all the objects set up like the book. Have children bring flashlights to school and as you re-tell the story have them shine flashlights on the objects.

Block Area
Add little space people(you can find these at department stores) Make space ships to take us to the planets- with legos, blocks, pop beads and peoples.

Moving Star Game
Fly to one star, land, and discover that the only way to move on that star is to do jumping jacks. Then step back into your space ship and land on the “crawling” star… the “hopping” star etc. The ideas are endless!

Space Music
You will have to make a music tape before the children arrive for this activity. Tape slow, instrumental music for about twenty seconds. Then, switch to fast, crazy music. Every twenty seconds or so, change the music. Go from slow to fast to medium back to fast. Tell the children to move the way the music makes them want to move. To tie this activity into the space theme, talk to the children about gravity. Explain that on the moon, the astronauts move in slow motion but on the Earth we can move as fast as we like.

Space Craft Simulator
Every successful mission must be simulated first. Have the children sit very close to each other inside a rope circle. Lead them through a take off, a bumpy ride and a landing. You will have to be animated to pull this off.

Balloon Rockets
Decorate a lunch size bag with a picture of a rocket or shuttle and show the children the principle of flight by blowing up a balloon, inserting it into the bag, and then turning it loose and having the bag “take-off’ into space.

 

Space Recipes and Snacks

Moon Balls (serves MANY)
Ingredients:
2 C. Peanut butter
1 1/3 C. Honey
2 C. Raisins
2 C. Dry milk
3 1/2 C. Graham cracker crumbs (keep 1/2 c. separate)

Mix dry milk, raisins, and 3 c. graham cracker crumbs.
Add honey and peanut butter, mix well (hands do best).
Roll into small balls.
Place remaining 1/2 c. of graham cracker crumbs in a large baggie.
Place several balls at a time into the baggie and shake, then place on a cookie sheet.
Chill then eat.

 

Space Songs, Poems and Finger Plays

Four Little Stars
Four little stars winking at me. One shot off, then there were three!
Three little stars With nothing to do. One shot off, Then there were two!
Two little stars Afraid of the sun. One shot off, Then there was one!
One little star Alone is no fun. It shot off, then there was none!

Climb Aboard The Spaceship
(sung to “Itsy Bitsy Spider”)
Climb aboard the spaceship, We’re going to the moon.
Hurry and get ready, We’re going to blast off soon.
Put on your helmets And buckle up real tight.
Here comes the countdown, Let’s count with all our might.
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1—BLAST OFF!!

Space Action Song
(sung to “London Bridge”)
The planets spin around the sun,
Around the sun, around the sun.
The planets spin around the sun,
We live on earth!

The sun is found in the middle,
In the middle, in the middle.
The sun is found in the middle,
It keeps us warm!

The stars are twinkling far away,
Far away, far away.
The stars are twinkling far away,
Now make a wish.
I’m A Little Robot

(sung to “I’m a Little Teapot”)
I’m a little robot, watch me walk,
Push my button, now I can talk.
When I get all oiled up I can work.
Even if I have to jerk.

I’m a little robot, watch me go,
Sometimes fast, sometimes slow
When I get all worn out you can see,
All I need is a new battery.

 

 

Dear Reader:  You can help us make this theme even better!

All of our theme ideas have come from our imagination and from reader submissions.  Please use this form to contact us if you have crafts, activities, games, recipes, songs or poems that you would like us to add to this theme.