What is it like to live in space? My students absolutely LOVE this dramatic play center! We talk about what it is like for astronauts living on the International Space Station. What do they do all day? How do they eat? How do they sleep?
For many students, this is their first exposure to concepts of gravity and space, so showing videos from the ISS is so helpful to painting a picture of what life is really like for astronauts! Watching them the first time they realize everything floats in space is just magical! Here is what it's like to eat in space. Here is how astronauts sleep in space. Here are some incredible space science experiments. Here is a longer video with lots of information you can split up across a few days. We add on to an anchor each day to collect what we learn!
I divide my dramatic play area into three main sections for the space station. This is the command center. Here I have the controls, my couch, and everything you need to run a space station! As you can see, my rule of thumb for this center is cover everything with aluminum foil! This really transforms ordinary furniture into something exciting. {PRO TIP: laminate your foil so that it doesn't tear throughout the unit. This was my first year doing this, and it made it kept everything perfect! Then I packed away my laminated foil strips for next year!!} This is the back of my kitchen set with some bottle caps hot glued to it along with a few printable and this old keyboard that doesn't work but is endless fun for my students!
My command center also has this shelf with Flight Report sheets to encourage my little astronauts to write and draw about their trip and some of our favorite space books. There is also a phone for them to talk to Houston, a set of tools to fix anything on the ship, and spare "space ship parts" which are just any metal materials I could find along with some magnetic rocks to put it all together!
Our second area is the Science Lab. We talk about how many astronauts are also scientists who work on experiments while they are in space. I put up some lab safety signs and added a keyboard for them to type out important notes. There are also Lab Report sheets and pens to encourage writing and drawing about their experiments.
I have a set of Moon Rocks aka gem stones for students to explore. They have a magnet to test them with as well as a balance scale and magnifying glasses to observe these rock specimens.
I also added these timers and a test tube sorting activity similar to this one that I found buried in my closet when I started working here. If you don't have a magical closet like mine, you could replicate this activity with a few containers and different colored craft puffs. This activity is great for sorting and making patterns!
The third area in my space station is the kitchen! After watching the video of astronauts eating in space, we talk about how food would float away if we just put it on a plate or in a bowl in the space station. I made these packets of space food by cutting up construction paper, putting it into zip lock bags, and labeling each one. The back of each food container also has a velcro dot that students can stick to the edge of our our table. I added velcro dots to each piece of silverware as well. I store all these in my regular refrigerator using it as a cabinet.
We are SO BLESSED to have these amazing space suits that were purchased with some surprise funds last year. I have found that kids are more than happy to imagine with me when I don't have props and costumes that are picture perfect. White t-shirts with stripes taped onto them would very likely make them just as happy. My students also love using these badges as part of their costumes, and the real lanyards make them even more fun!
If you would like to have any of the printable I use, you can grab them here!
If you are looking for more space activities, try these! Just click on the picture to see more about it.
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