Space Study

We spent last Sunday at the science museum in Balboa Park and watched Journey To Space at the IMAX theater (Mr. B's first movie theater experience!). Mr. B loved the movie and has been talking about it non-stop!

So we start our science study. I pulled all the age-appropriate books on space from our library and arranged them on Mr. B's downstairs bookshelf. 

Mr. B has already out grown some of our books about space. He loved these three when he was about 18 months-2 years. The Elmo book isn't specifically about space but Elmo has a very exciting trip through outer space to get to Sesame Street. I believe that this is the book that got Mr. B excited about space.

We also have a few additional resources for our unit: a space Toob, Target flashcards and Here Comes Science (CD/DVD by They Might Be Giants). These are excellent resources and make learning about space so much fun. On the CD/DVD, tracks 7-10 are about space.

Mr. B loves My Big Book of Space (he slept with it last night) and My Big Busy Space Activity Book. These two books are full of pop-ups, tabs, flaps, etc. One of my favorite parts is a map of the Earth's Atmosphere in My Big Busy Space Activity Book. The map shows the location of the International Space Station and the Hubble Telescope and Mr. B and I had fun matching them up with the Toob pieces. 

I really enjoyed the Cat in The Hat There's No Place Like Space but Mr. B wasn't as impressed. Most of the books in this series are deceptively complex but this one was a little more simplistic. We may be done with this book. If the show that this book is based on is still on Netflix, we'll give it a try. 

Mr. B was very interested in the Magic School Bus Sees Stars book. We read it and then I found the corresponding episode for him on Netflix. I'm not sure whether he likes/or is ready for the Magic School Bus Show. We may have to put it on hold for now. 

The last book that we read today is The Planets in Our Solar System (a Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science book). Mr. B loved this one. He was familiar with a lot of the information in this book but also learned a lot more. He had me read it twice to him today. 

Some of the other space-related activities that I would like to do with Mr. B are:

• Put together a Solar System Model (from Michaels) 
• Put together our LEGO Shuttle Expedition (this is a very difficult project) 
• Visit the California Science Center in LA (we are planning on going end of Sept/beginning of Oct).
• I would love to get a telescope or go star gazing (by Mr. B has a 7pm bedtime and good telescopes are very expensive so this plan will have wait...maybe next year).