Adventures in Outer Space

Here's a recap of some of the space-themed activities we did while I was on my blogging hiatus. You can see that there aren't many Montessori-inspired activities... M just wasn't interested. We did a lot of reading, playing outside, visiting museums, and watching movies instead.

Matching Planets

M wasn't interested in the word part of the 3-part cards, but she did like matching the pictures with the felt cutouts of the planets. She knew the names of the planets, and could find the right image as I named the planets in order. I'm hoping to get more small objects that she can play with as we explore other themes - either more felt shapes that I make, or plastic objects like Safari Ltd. Space Toob (how cool would that have been?!).

Playing in the Dark

We spent a lot of time outside looking at the moon and stars, and visited the Planetarium, so M naturally was interested in things that glow in the dark. She would sit in the bathroom (one of the few places in our house that doesn't have windows) with the lights out and play with her glow in the dark stars, light up fairy wand, and glow turtle.

NASA Exhibit

I love when local events happen at just the right time! "To the Moon: Snoopy Soars with NASA" opened at the Upcountry History Museum while we were exploring planets and outer space! The target audience for the exhibit was a little older, but M really enjoyed looking around at the pictures, space suits, and other items on display. They even had a kids area where M could try on a mini-space suit and helmet and build a Lego spaceship. She was also thrilled to get to meet Snoopy!

Observe the Moon Night

In honor of International Observe the Moon Night (10/12/13), we made a fire in our fire pit, roasted marshmallows, made s'mores, and watched the moon. It was a lot of fun for all of us, and it got M interested in the idea of camping (maybe we'll have to do that soon...).

Lunar Eclipse

Who knew there was so much going on with the moon? It's the Law of Attraction, I suppose, but it seemed like everywhere I looked there was something to see or do related to our theme! October 18 was called the Hunter's Moon, which is apparently the full moon that falls directly after the Harvest Moon (you learn something new everyday!). There was a penumbral eclipse that evening too, which is like a partial lunar eclipse where the Earth's outer shadow covers part of the moon. We never actually saw a shadow, but we did have the opportunity to talk about what would cause an eclipse and remember the phases of the moon we had made with Oreos the previous week.

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