Roaring Rockets by Tony Mitton and Ant Parker and published by Kingfisher/Macmillan is a lovely little book with bright detailed pictures and short sentences. It also rhymes which is always a bonus and it gives clear information on how a rocket works. We love reading the count down page when the rocket is ready to take off and we like how the book ends with a cheer.
Activities
Make a rocket
Moon picture
Planet picture
Jet pack
Rocket flying
Jet pack adventure
Star gazing
Chalk planet adventure
Star/moon sandwiches
Rocket kebabs
Fruit spaceship
Indoor
Well the first activity of course is to make a rocket. To make a simple rocket you could use a toilet roll tube or a kitchen roll tube and some coloured card. Get your child/children to colour the tube all round and then use the card to make the small wings and if you cut out a circle of card and cut a slit to the middle you can make a cone to go on top. If you have some red and yellow card or tissue paper then you can stick this on the bottom to make it look like there are flames coming out. For a rocket that flies you could use a bottle with a sports top. Lift the sports top up so it would be open like you are going to drink out of it and put half a drinking straw in and seal round the edge with plasticine or blue tack (you want the air to come out of the straw when you squeeze the bottle). Make a little card rocket to stick on the side and then when you squeeze the bottle it should go flying in the air like a real space rocket (you might want to do the second part outside). The moon is seen in the story when the rocket ventures into space so if you have some black paper (or you could paint white paper black) then this could be the space background. Cut out a white circle and then get your child/children to either use a sponge or screwed up foil dipped in grey paint to make the surface of the moon. They could also decorate the background with stars or rockets and they can be as creative as they want. Using a black background again your child/children could make a planet picture using buttons as the planets. They could start by painting the sun and they could do this at the edge of the paper or in the middle. They might want to do a bit of research of how big their buttons need to be and what order they go in. Older children could label their planets if they wanted and they might want to put some stars or rockets in the background. If your child would like to be an astronaut then they could make a jet pack. If you can get hold of two large, empty pop bottles and some card then you can strap them together using tape to make them look like a jet pack. If yellow and orange card is added to the bottom it would make them look more realistic. For your child to wear them you would need to add a strip of material either side stapled on and they would put it on like a back pack.
Outdoor
Two of the indoor activities could be transferred outside. The rocket from the flying rocket activity could be flown outside and your child/children could experiment by using different sized straws or card rockets and see what differences it makes. Older children could keep note of what happens. The jet pack could be used outside for a space adventure. Your child could pretend that they are visiting a new planet and they can explore it and then maybe draw or write the different things that they could see. If you have a telescope available they could do a bit of star gazing and maybe look in a book or on the internet the different stars that they could see. For an active activity your child/children could draw some planets on the floor using chalk and then jump between them. For a bit of competition they could time how long it takes to jump across all the planets and see who does it the fastest or they could come up with a different move that they have to do when visiting each planet and they can be as silly as they want.
Cooking/Food
For a savoury treat you could cut their sandwiches in star or moon shapes and this would make a space inspired meal. You could also do this with cheese and other soft foods. For a sweet treat you could make kebabs. Alternate strawberries and marshmallows on a kebab stick (you want a strawberry at the top as it will look like the pointed part of the rocket) and then finish it off with putting some melon cut into a flame shape at the other end of the kebab stick. These are simple but look really effective. Not quite a space rocket but if you wanted to get creative and make a spaceship this can be done with a whole pear, a pineapple ring and some jazzy sweets and chocolate fingers. Put the pineapple ring over the pear and put the jazzy sweets on the ring. Push three chocolate fingers into the bottom of the pear as the spaceship legs (the chocolate fingers may need to be halved). Don't forget to share your creations.
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