Planet Ink Block Painting (Space)

Stomp Rocket Scooter Board Obstacle Course: When the theme is "Space" the stomp rockets have to come out again. Stomp rockets are a highly motivating activity for kids of  a wide variety of ages. At Clubhouse, we always try to turn games into cooperative activities. We partnered up with a friend and pulled a bin that contained two foam rockets and was attached to a scooter board with the help of a rope across the field. We only had one scooter board and one rope so we had to work together to get everything across the field toward the stomp rocket devices. At the end of the course, we put the stomp rockets on the stomp rocket device and launched the rockets. We were in awe how high our rockets were flying.

Art Project “Planet Printing”:  Big sheets of plexi were taped to the  table. We worked in small groups, The first step was to put small dabbers of paint onto the plexi sheets and then to spread the paint onto the plexi by using a brayer. We used block printing ink. After applying the paint to the plexi, we  created patterns with wooden sticks. Then, we placed a ‘planet’ (circle cut out of poster board) onto the plexi and made an imprint. We used squeegees or wooden sticks to help with the transfer process. Before we got going with the art project, we discussed what planets we wanted to make by studying a picture of the solar system. We had to choose the colors accordingly. It was fun working with the brayer. We were amazed how much our art work resembled the real planets.

Space: Moon Rock Toss

“Planet Musical Chairs”:  The planets we made last week were spread out on the floor. First, we reviewed the names of the planets and then danced around our planets when the music played (to the music of "Space Jam" of course). When the music stopped, we found a planet to stand on (sharing our planets was encouraged). With each stoppage of the music, we removed one planet until no more planets were left. We love holding hands during dancing games but we also worked on respecting when one of our friends did not want o hold hands.

Partners

Moon Rocks

Moon Rock Hunt: We went outside and partnered up with a friend and looked together for hidden “moon rocks” (crumbled up aluminum foil, formed into balls). It was important that we stayed together as a team while looking for our moon rocks.


Moon Rock Toss: Then we used our moon rocks to play a tossing game. Each player tossed the rocks into targets, e.g., hula hoops that represented our planets. Each player had 2 turns. We also added numbers to the planets so we could keep score. The planet that was the furthest away had the highest number since it was most challenging to hit it with the moon rocks. Of course, we also worked on cheering and turn taking.