Camp Mommy: Rockets and Exploring Outer Space

This weeks Camp Mommy was the beginning of our transition from our outdoor summer play to our indoor fall...and dare I say, winter play. This is our second last Camp Mommy, and then we will begin another weekly activity plan.

In preparation for this day, I printed off 4 pictures of outer space as a full size paper image. This was the template we used as the background for our rocket building. Then I cut out a bunch of squares (40 in total, 5 different colours in equal amounts), and 4 different coloured triangles. The rockets we built were name rockets, one for each of the VDV four. All of our names (well, Mommy and Daddy for us parents) have 5 letters each, so a total of 20 squares were needed. I doubled the amount of squares I cut as Bug is still learning letters and sometimes he gets excited with writing, so he goes to fast and the letter isn't even close to resembling what it is supposed to be. These extra squares allowed for him to make some errors and not dampen the playing mood by me having to cut more pieces. I would ask him who's rocket he wanted to build first, and then we would start constructing. He wrote the letters individually on different coloured squares (we used a different colour piece for each letter) and once complete, I would get him to use a glue stick and adhere the squares to our outer space picture. I helped him with placement just to make sure they were all connected. After, we would add the top and I cut out some orange tissue paper for the bottom to act as fire. Finally we would send off our rocket into outer space. We would then proceed with the remaining names. Bug really enjoyed this craft.

After our rockets were constructed. We took our play outside. I had bought a $5 rocket (normally $10 but I got it on sale) from Toys 'r Us at the beginning of summer, as Bug loves watching things shoot into the air. We hadn't had a chance to use it, and when planning this activity, it seemed like the perfect time to incorporate this adult supervised toy. In all honesty, I wouldn't suggest buying this. It didn't work for long...Bug enjoyed it, but it didn't go super high and we only got about 5 uses out of it before it became really finicky and wouldn't work. Either way, Bug had a good time.

I already had planned this next part of our day; however, I'm glad it was part of our activity as it redeemed the not so stellar toy rocket. We have done this craft before, and it was a huge hit...so it seemed appropriate to bring it back considering it involved exploding film canisters that looked like rockets to Bug. We made art with ours the first time, and a very special Gramma wants an art piece for Christmas. Therefore, we made another one. Fun plus checking off the Christmas checklist all in one day...BONUS for this Mommy VDV.

If you just want to have some fun with exploding film canisters, then all you need are some empty ones and some Alka-Seltzer tablets. We got our used film canisters from London Drugs Photo Lab for free. I asked if they had any to give away and they gave us a bunch. Make sure they are the film canisters that have lids that snap into place inside the top circumference (usually 100% clear), not the ones that have a protruding lip on the lids once they are attached. You pour in enough water to fill 1/4 of the canister, drop the tablet inside, place the lid on top and turn it upside down onto the ground. Then step back and wait for it to soar into the air...and they really get some height!

If you want to make some exploding art, add some water colour paint to the water in the canister. I would suggest using a little less water if you want more of a scattered paint image on the canvas or piece of paper. It becomes quite a mess with more water, especially if you do multiple colours. It was fun to make this as an art project because Bug got to see what happened once the gas built up inside the canister, making it shoot off into the sky.

Now that our rockets have launched, we came back inside to learn about planets. I made a solar system model by printing out a picture of the sun and all of the planets. Obviously the size comparison isn't to scale; however, I did do research to know which planets were smaller than the others. I printed the planet pictures with that in mind, and clearly making sure the sun was the largest out of all of them. Then they all had paper arms in varying lengths to portray distance of each planet from the sun. I laminated all of the arms with the planets attached, as well as the sun to make it sturdier for repeated use. I cut out all of the pieces and then hole punched the end without the planet, and connected the arms to the center of the sun by using a brad. This way, the planets can actually circle the sun and I was able to teach Bug the concept of orbits. I also made laminated cards of the planet names in a dashed font so that each planet we spoke about, Bug was able to get some letter and writing practice in.  I found a clearance book/activity package at Chapters about the solar system ($5.99!). It had a book, a board game, and glow in the dark stars, planets and space vehicles. BIG FIND!!

The Solar System learning activity began by reading a page in the book, starting with the sun. It was a kids book, so the information was basic but totally toddler appropriate. I would then show him the sun on the model I made, and then give him the card to practice writing with a dry erase marker (probably the best trick I learned as a mom from the internet was the use of dry erase markers on laminated sheets). After the writing, we went through each planet, in correct order.

When all of that was done, we played the cute little board game that came with our package. Then we decorated the wall by his bed with the glow in the dark space pieces. Bug was super excited about these.

This was a big day, and for younger kids, it may have been a bit much. There are many components you can do individually, but Bug recently started school and I want to start preparing him for lesson plans and improving his attention span. At no point during this Camp Mommy did Bug show disinterest; so as a Mom, that was a plus in my books! I promise, if he lost interest, I wouldn't have forced him into all of this. We would have taken a break and picked up where we left off later in the day. If you don't have a book about planets, there is lots of information on the internet. That's easy fact gathering for this project. And glow in the dark stars are available at Dollarama. I think in total this whole activity cost me under $20!

At the end of the day, as we were admiring our glowing stars, planets and space vehicles, Bug said "Mom, you are the best". That right there is why I do this. I don't need validation from anyone else, only from my kids. And to know that I'm making their childhood that much more memorable, I'd say I am succeeding in my goal for this planning of mine.

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