April 2022

We went over our competition with the Russians in the race for space exploration, advancements, and better technology. The many little steps that were taken to get to our goals were discussed, up to how current space technology has expanded into the private sector with enterprises like Space X.

We had a dramatic play International Space Station set up to explore what life is like on the ISS. It included a space shuttle, docking, space walks, eating pouch foods, and even a lab rat. We explained how many countries now do experiments on the ISS and the system of checks and balances so countries are encouraged to work together. BTW – A bee suit makes a great space suit.

We have several of our dads who work for Raytheon. They came to talk to the kids about different missiles and rockets, how they work, and some more Space Race history. They also made several different types of water missiles and experimented with which ones work the best.

At our Mars Rover Center, the kids played a computer Mars Rover game to learn how to program their Mars Rover to be able to collect rock samples, and they operated a remote-controlled extractor to collect rock samples that were placed on the ground. 

The kids were given a mixture of graham crackers, Oreos, Reeses, peanuts, and candy canes. They had to observe and describe what they saw in non-food words. Afterwards, they tried to figure out what the mixture of “Mars soil” was made of.

We studied the planets and how they move in a “Dance of the Planets” role play. The kids calculated their weight and age on each planet.

We had a center on the Lunar Landing. They built their own lunar landers, made an Oreo phase of the moon diagram, looked for glow-in-the dark moon rocks, and tried out the moon shoes, all under black lights.