Space Week!

This week (4th to 10th October) is World space week so I just had to highlight some of the amazing space resources & events you can find online. It is such a fascinating topic for all ages so I hope you find something fun to do and maybe learn a little too!

Take a trip into space from the comfort of your own home with the Royal Observatory at Greenwich. Whilst their amazing planetarium is still shut they are offering free, virtual shows at the weekend. For more information and to book a place, click here.

These shows are aimed at families with children aged 7 & above but they also have some wonderful resources for younger children including a bedtime story with Ted the astronaut teddy; find them here.

The National Space Centre has a live Astronaut Q & A at 12.30pm on Wednesday, via their Facebook page (they also have some fab, family friendly videos including gross things about space!).

For little ones you can enjoy a story from space read by an astronaut - click here.

If you get chance please do go and see Museum of the Moon in real life, it really is spectacular. You can watch the official video here.

I've been lucky enough to see it twice and it is a very special artwork and even appeals to very little ones (my four year old nephew was absolutely fascinated!)

You can find some excellent stargazing resources from CBeebies here - perfect for the darker nights!

Space makes a great theme for sensory play for toddlers & pre-schoolers. Rainy day mum has a great space themed sensory bin here. Lots more playful space ideas here.

I'm really lucky to have some lovely space resources at work including a tuff tray liner, galaxy backdrop & tabbards . We got ours from TTS.

I recently went to Jodrell Bank and I was amazed by the sheer scale of the telescope and the importance of the site, proper wow moment! There is lots of outdoor space and the staff were very welcoming and really on top of social distancing. We really enjoyed the outdoor exhibits and the fantastic telescope talk, great example of excellent science communication. As you would expect some indoor areas were closed due to new safety measures so we plan to go back when the new planetarium is open. They also have lots of different at home learning ideas: https://www.jodrellbank.net/learn/sciencelearningathome/

Finally for teachers, STEM communicators or educators I would really recommend this course from FutureLearn: Teaching Primary Science (Exploring Space).

Happy Space Week Everyone!

Sarah