Great Items For All Those Budding Astronauts Out There!

Do you have a little one that can't get enough of learning about outer space?  I find that every year this is one of the very most loved science topics in our preschool.  

While there may only be about a month to learn about space in the classroom, you can help your child follow their curiosity anytime with a few of my favorite space toys, books, and educational items below!

For BIG learning fun at home or in the classroom, I highly recommend getting inflatable planets or solar system models to really get their attention and as a fun hands-on learning experience about the planets.  We use the inflatables in class, and the kids just LOVE them.  They would be great hung up on a ceiling, too.  
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Pictures of the planets are also a favorite as they are just so beautiful!  Books or wall decals are great for kids to enjoy the wonders of our solar system.  The pictures in the "Our Solar System" book below are just gorgeous.  This is one of my all time favorite science books for kids.

And for those that really want to "be" an astronaut, we also enjoy some space toys so they can act out eating, sleeping, and being in space.  We have both the set of plastic astronauts and the collection of vehicles. I really like the combo as the white suit astronaut toys are quite realistic for the price, and the vehicles the come with the other one are a great deal.  I always like anything that encourages imaginative play.  So many kids don't get enough of that anymore with the high-pressured academics at young ages.

Since I just LOVE good books, I can't help but share some of my other favorite ones from our space unit, too.  The first one is by Eric Carle and is such a sweet story with beautiful pictures.  The second one really shows wonderful imagination.  Kitten's First Full Moon is one of my favorite because it is so sweet and adorable.  Finally, I like the Astronaut Handbook since it really gets you thinking about what space would be like!  Any of these are great for the classroom or at home.

I hope you find these links useful if you have space-loving kids!  Great, educational gifts are a nice choice instead of whatever the latest fad is at the store!

​Going out to observe the moon and stars is always a great idea, too.  See how many constellations you can find next time the night is clear.  Happy exploring!