Space
Welcome to Space Week!
This week make a space themed sensory box, build a rocket and throw space rocks in the active play.
Sensory Play
This week have a look around your home for items to build a space themed sensory box. We used:
- Dark gravel from an outdoors area. Aquarium gravel is very similar if you have any around from a fish tank or are looking to buy some bases for a sensory box.
- Wooden planets from this shape sorting game. These stress balls shaped like planets were such a tempting purchase for us, but break the key rule with these set ups not to buy one-off items!
Other ideas are alien toys if you have any, along with glow in the dark stars, rockets and astronauts. If you don't have any planets then we've included them as one of the printables below, so you could print off the file and stick it to cardboard for durability.
Then we also used the constellations from this week's printables, which we set up with pasta and pebbles in theory to draw them out. This was a bit advanced for this age but is something we are thinking of repeating in a few years time.
* As with all toddler hacks suggestions, we assume your toddler is past the stage of putting things in their mouth and any play suggested here will be supervised *
Arts and Crafts
Make rockets for this week's arts and crafts.
- Get a toilet roll and some cardboard
- Cut 2 triangles out of the cardboard and a semi circle
- Help your toddler colour in the toilet roll
- Attach the cardboard triangles to the base of the toilet roll and the semi circle to the top
- Draw in windows to the side of the toilet roll to finish your rocket.
Active Play
Grab some tin foil and screw it up into balls to create your own space rocks. Play throw the rock with your toddler, trying to aim them into a bucket.
Bonus Activity
And for an easy bonus activity for this week, why don't you get outside when it's dark and show your toddler the moon and some stars.
Next Week's Theme
What You'll Need for Next Week's Theme
Bit of a shopping list for next week, although hopefully items to hold onto if you get a delivery rather than new things to go out and buy!
You'll need:
- Bug toys (we have ones similar to these ones)
- Some shredded paper
- Sellotape or sticky back plastic
- Some cardboard
Science Fiction Week
This Week's Theme
This Week's Theme
This Week's Theme
This week's theme is National Science Fiction Day which falls on the 2nd January.
Sensory Play
This Week's Theme
This Week's Theme
Set up a space themed sensory bin for this week's sensory bin!
The base is made up of gravel, but ground up cereal would be a good substitute for mouthers. The planets come from a shape sorting puzzle we already had and there are plastic bottle tops in there too to represent asteroids.
The whole point of Toddler Hacks is to use what you've got around the home, so see if you can find any rocket, alien or planet toys! These constellation cards are free to download from my website too, here.
Looking for other sensory play ideas related to the science fiction theme? Check out this post on how to make moonsand.
Arts and Crafts
This Week's Theme
Arts and Crafts
For this week's science fiction theme make alien masks! You can make these as simple or as complex as you like.
- Paint paper plates green
- Stick on ears and an antenna to the back
- Add eyes and a mouth
- And that's it!
Active Play
Book of the Week
Arts and Crafts
This week's active play idea is to have blast off races with your toddler or pre-schooler.
Set up on one side of a room, do a countdown and GO!
Book of the Week
Book of the Week
Book of the Week
Your book of the week is The Way Back Home by Oliver Jeffers. I've found this is one of those authors whose writing style and illustrations make me want to collect all their books, and this one is no different. After discovering an airplane in his cupboard, a boy becomes stuck on the moon and discovers he is not alone.
Further Ideas
Book of the Week
Book of the Week
Here you'll find some extra ideas for how to extend the science fiction theme.
- DIY Space Adventure: create a spaceship using cardboard boxes, cushions, or blankets. Pretend to explore planets or meet aliens
- Glow in the Dark Fun: use glow-in-the-dark stickers or toys to simulate stars, planets, or a sci-fi environment in a dark room
- Futuristic Snack Time: let your child invent a futuristic snack by mixing colourful fruit, jelly, or sprinkles
- Nursery Rhyme: play our themed nursery rhyme of the week - Zoom Zoom Zoom!
- Planetarium or Science Museum: visit a local planetarium for a star show or a science museum with exhibits about space, technology, or futuristic innovations