Earth and Space Lesson Ideas For Preschool & Kindergarten

U.S. Space & Rocket Center, Huntsville, Alabama

For an introduction and to see how this post fits in the complete list of preschool lesson ideas for the year, please see my post: Preschool Lesson Ideas For Homeschool – Plans For The Year.

Goal & Objectives

Goal:
1. Beginning awareness of Earth and Space: understanding seasons, weather, telling time, gravity, solar system.

Objectives:
1. Learn the months of the year, the four seasons, and the different types of weather.
2. Begin to learn how to tell the time.
3. Learn about gravity and the solar system.
4. Learn about solids, liquids, and gases.

Notes

Below are links to materials, resources, and tutorials for “Earth and Space” lesson ideas. Please pick and choose the resources that fit the interests of your child(ren). My schedule calls for combining this lesson with the Fall Season Lesson and the Joseph and Moses Bible stories.

Disclosure: Most of the links below lead to free printables and other resources. I am an affiliate of Amazon.com and will receive a small commission if the affiliate links on this page are used to make a purchase.

Lesson Ideas

Arts & Crafts

Pages from Preschool Color & Activity Book by Roger Priddy: Themes – earth, space, weather, time, seasons *
Craft pages from Arts and Crafts with Amber Lamb and/or Child Art for 3s: Themes – earth, space, weather, time, seasons *
Months Mini Books (Printable)
Seasons Mini Books (Printable)
Earth Coloring Page (Printable)
Planet Earth Coffee Filter Craft
Erupting Volcano Coloring Page (Printable)
Solar System Coloring Page (Printable)
Space Shuttle Coloring Page (Printable)
Doodle on the Moon Activity (Printable)
Preschool Solar System Crafts and Activities (Pinterest Board)
Solar System Mobile and Coloring pages from July-August Monthly Idea Book from Teacher’s Friend Publications, Inc.

Reading & Writing Exercises

Earth Vocabulary Flash Cards (Printable)
Weather Handwriting/Coloring Pages (Printable)
Earth & Space Handwriting/Coloring Pages (Printable)

Math

Coloring pages from Numbers & Skills With Button Bear: Themes – earth, space, weather, time, seasons *
What Time Is It? File Folder Game (Printable)

Science

My Weather Station Activity (Printable)
Solids, Liquids and Gases Balloons Activity
Gravity: Marble Obstacle Course
Talk About Gravity & Activities
Sink or Float Experiment
Make Four Season Trees
Solar System activities from July-August Monthly Idea Book from Teacher’s Friend Publications, Inc.

Field Trip

Planetarium
Space & Rocket Center

Social Studies

Map Activity

(Idea adapted from a Five In A Row activity.)

You will need: wall map of your country, wall map of the world, thumbnail-sized pictures of your family members, poster putty, laminator (optional).

Pin the maps on the wall within easy reach of your child(ren). (Wall maps with a laminated or gloss-type surface work better than plain paper.)
Cut out small pictures of your family members and laminate (laminating is optional).
Talk with your child(ren) about where they live, and where their family members live, and point to the map, then have them put their finger on the map, too. For example: “we live here in Huntsville, Alabama, see? Grandpa and Grandma live in this city in Kentucky, and Aunt Mabel and Uncle Henry live in way over in London, England!”
Put small pieces of poster putty on the back of each picture, and let your child tack the pictures on the appropriate cities on the map(s).

Extended Activity #1: Before going to the wall maps, show your preschooler where your country and city are on a globe (if you don’t have a globe, an inflatable globe will do – it is very inexpensive and it doubles as a toy!) Talk about how we live on Earth, and that the globe represents Earth. If your child is really interested, you may also want to talk about the location of our planet on a solar system chart.

Extended Activity #2: Print out and laminate thumbnail images of your favorite story books, and help your children find where the images should go on the map according to the story. For example, we printed out a thumbnail of Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans, and placed it on Paris, France. Another example would be Grandfather’s Journey by Allen Say (we placed it on Japan, then California, then back to Japan).

Reading & History

Bible: Joseph (Jesus Calling Bible Storybook: p 54 – 61)
Bible: Joseph (Egermeier’s Bible Story Book: p 51 – 69)
Bible: Moses (Jesus Calling Bible Storybook: p 62 – 77)
Bible: Moses (Egermeier’s Bible Story Book: p 73 – 128)
Let’s Explore God’s World by Debby Anderson
One Giant Leap: The Story of Neil Armstrong by Don Brown
What Makes Day and Night by Franklyn M. Branley
Sunshine Makes the Seasons by Franklyn M. Branley
Clouds by Anne Rockwell
What Is the World Made Of? All About Solids, Liquids, and Gases by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld
Forces Make Things Move by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Energy Makes Things Happen by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Air Is All Around You by Franklyn M. Branley
How Mountains Are Made (Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science 2)
Volcanoes (Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science 2)
Mission to Mars (Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science 2)
The Planets in Our Solar System (Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science, Stage 2)

* A Beka updates these books occasionally so I am not including page numbers or specific descriptions.
** I suggest allowing your child to do as few or as many of these worksheets as they like.
*** Egermeier’s Bible Story Book is wonderful for children who can listen to a story while they color, and do not need a lot of pictures in the book to keep them interested.

Thank you for visiting Cotton Ridge Homeschool! I hope these resources help you with your preschool year. Please feel free to comment below with your own ideas!

Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Amazon.com and will receive a small commission if the links above are used to make a purchase. However, I only recommend products and companies that I believe will benefit my readers. My opinions are entirely my own and may differ from yours.