Space Inquiry Activities for Preschoolers

Last month, while walking home from our neighbors house, my daughter looked up and for the first time noticed the stars and the moon. She asked where the moon was, and I explained it was in space, and that all those stars are far away suns. That night I pulled out Chris Hadfield’s The Darkest Dark, and read it to her in bed. She had so many questions. It’s like I could hear her gears turning.

I picked up this book on sale last year and kept it aside for future reading.

Since that night she has asked my husband and I so many questions about earth, the moon, space, rockets, and astronauts. Of course the Kindergarten teacher in me was jumping for joy! I decided to organize a few space themed activities for her at home to continue fostering her wonder and curiosity.

I painted a small set of story stones with some rocks I had laying around.

Space play dough

Space themed play dough was super easy to whip up. I used my Teacher Approved Play Dough recipe, added some fine sliver glitter in with the flour, and used black gel food colouring. When making dough that is all one colour, I find it easier to dissolve the food colouring into the water, rather than kneading it in at the end.

I used about 1/2 tsp of Wilton gel coloring.

Space Sensory Bin

A space themed sensory bin is easy to create with dry black beans. I’ve used black beans in the past for bug and garden themed bins and my girls just love them as filler. I think it’s the sound they make when they are scooping and pouring them. To make this bin space themed, I added a few large marbles as planets, glow in the dark plastic stars, and some foam letters. I always include a few small containers, tweezers and cups for scooping, pouring and sorting.

I also happened to have an Earth stress ball so I tossed in there too.

Space Drawing and Labeling

I purchased these great Crayola glitter crayons at the dollarstore and put together a little writing and drawing center. Dark construction paper matches the theme and helps the crayon colours pop. I also printed and laminated these great solar system vocabulary cards from Literacy with Littles as a writing prompt.

Books

On top of all the playing, I’ve gathered some great books to explore and help answer some of my daughter’s questions. From Usborne, My Very First Book of Space uses kid friendly language and great visuals to explain all things space. Earth! by Stacy McAnulty talks all about how Earth began and its relationship to the sun and moon. Here We Are by Oliver Jeffers is a beautifully written and illustrated book about our planet. Margaret and the Moon tells the story of how Margaret Hamilton used math to help the Apollo missions.

I have so many ideas for other activities if this interest keeps up. For now we will play, answer questions, and read some books about space. Be sure to follow my Instagram for updates and follow my Pinterest account to see more space related activities I’ve saved!

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