Outer Space Storytime... Out of this galaxy!

One of my favorite things to do (now that I have an apartment that comes with its very own private porch) is to lay back in my hammock and look up at the stars. I was very excited to have Outer Space as our theme at story-time this week. It is our last before we take a nice, long break through the month of August and come back in early September, so I tried to make it count.

Books:
Astronaut PiggyWiggy by Diane Fox
Goldilocks and the Three Martians> by Stu Smith and illustrated by Michael Garland. I love Michael Garland. His Mystery Mansion is one of my favorites. I thought this was actually the more interesting of the books that we read today. I normally try to vary the age range, but since our friends from the daycare could not come today, this one was a little old for the children who were present this morning. C'est la vie, I guess.

One of my other favorite space-themed books that we did not read because it slipped my mind until I was going through some notes is by author/illustrator Oliver Jeffers, who is quickly becoming one of my favorite notables in children's literature. It's called How to Catch a Star.

Games:
-Planet toss (used decorated coasters as planets and tried to get kids to put them back "into orbit" by tossing them towards cardboard stars placed around the floor in the program room)
-Moon bounce race (basically a race of long jumps--this is one where I actually tried to win against small children and still lost. It's tricker than it looks and being bigger is not necessarily an advantage).

Craft(s):
-Astronaut coloring page
-Design your own rocket ship

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