50 Space Activities for Elementary School Students

Send your elementary school class over the moon with these space activities. Here is a list of space-related resources to help blast your students' imaginations into outer space:

Space Activities

1. The Smithsonian Education site provides a general introduction to the universe.
2. View the atmosphere through Google Earth.
3. NASA offers teachers grades K-6 a variety of space-related activities.
4. View astronomy photographs and browse interactive activities at the HubbleSite.
5. View a space grocery list and have students create their own version.
6. Learn how to construct a space station.
7. Get active and learn how to train like an astronaut.
8. Create a space shuttle scavenger hunt.
9. Write a biography about a former astronomer.
10. Research about extraterrestrial intelligence and have students debate whether other life forms even exist.
11. Read the Top 10 Reasons for Going into Space and have students write a top 10 essay about what they learned about space.
12. Learn about space-related events coming up on the space calendar.
13. View the shuttle countdown site where you can learn how the countdown operated and read about launches during the shuttle era.
14. Get a 3D look of the solar system.
15. Build a model solar system.
16. Create a timeline of space firsts.
17. Build an air-powered bottle rocket.
18. Build an edible space shuttle out of peanut butter, celery, and bread.
19. Give an astronomy and/or space quiz.
20. Watch NASA TV.
21. Learn about NASA Acronyms.
22. Read nonfiction space books about NASA space exploration, and the history.
23. Browse pictures of animals in space.
24. Watch age appropriate movies about space.
25. Compare women astronauts with men astronauts.
26. Learn how astronauts go to the bathroom in space (students will sure get a kick out of this one).
27. Watch Apollo videos and have students create a KWL chart.
28. Have students complete an activity book about space.
29. Build a bubbled power rocket.
30. Build a moon habitat.
31. Make moon cookies.
32. Launch a rocket from a spinning planet.
33. Make asteroids students can eat.
34. Place space toys and materials in your learning center for hands-on fun.
35. Go on a field trip to a place like the US Space and Rocket Center.
36. Write a letter to a space scientist asking him space-related questions.
37. Compare Yuri Gagarin's space mission with that of Alan Shepard.
38. View the first photograph from space.
39. View a timeline of the first mission to space.
40. View an interactive expedition of the first mission to space.
41. View an interactive recreation of the Apollo space shuttle.
42. Explore a journey into space with this Scholastic interactive game.
43. View solar system trading cards.
44. Make a comet with dry ice, garbage bags, hammer, gloves, ice-cream sticks, sand or dirt, ammonia, and corn syrup.
45. Have students design and build their own spaceship.
46. Print out this space quiz and test your students knowledge.
47. Brainstorm what living on the moon would be like. Have students design and build their own colony.
48. Find out when a spacecraft will be flying over your city.
49. Find out what it took to have a man be able to walk on the moon.
50. Learn about gravity and the fundamentalists of physics.
51. A kids website dedicated to teaching students about the wonders of space.

Additional Space Resources

For further information on space choose a few of these kid-friendly websites to visit:

• Astronomy for Kids: Learn about the moon, planets, asteroids, and comets through interactive games and activities.
• Space Kids: View videos, experiments, projects, and more.
• NASA Kids Club: Space-related fun and games for kids.
• ESA Kids: Interactive site to learn about the universe and life in space.
• Cosmos 4 Kids: Astronomy basics and science of the stars.