~Thank you to NCircle Entertainment for providing me with a Cat in the Hat DVD and book for review. This post contains affiliate links, in which I may receive compensation for your purchase.~
As you probably already know, last week was Dr. Seuss week and the Read Across America event took place on March 2nd, in light of Dr. Seuss’ birthday. Not only did we have fun with Dr. Seuss activities last week and participate in Read Across America, but we also spent the week exploring outer space.
Each day my son did a different activity, all of which were space related. And everything he did led up to a special Friday movie. It’s just like when I was in school and the big box TV was rolled into the classroom. I knew right then my school day was taking a turn for the better. It was the same thing here. With a little help from NCircle Entertainment, he took an adventure through outer space with The Cat in the Hat! The Cat in the Hat knows a lot about all kinds of things, even outer space.
Monday
You can’t really learn about outer space without visiting, and you can’t really visit without becoming an astronaut, so that’s how my son started the week. On Monday he created his very own astronaut and started learning about the different things he might see way out of this world.
I found a large array of outer space printables just from searching on Pinterest, so that’s where all of the outer space activities and ideas for the week came from. His astronaut printable was a color by letter activity and the other coloring printable was a color by sight word. Both of these were perfect for his age!
Tuesday
Now that my son was an official astronaut, he had to figure out how to actually get to outer space. His solution was to build his own rocket ship. On Tuesday, we took to his painting easel so he could create one!
We actually started by painting his foot blue and orange, and then he stepped on his easel paper. The blue part would be the body of his rocket and the orange part, the fire coming out the engines. It was a nice starting point to get his creative juices flowing. After that, I let him do his own thing.
I did tell him his rocket needed some triangular wings (thinking of those at the base of the rocket) and he took it literally, giving his rocket green wings. They look like bird wings to me, but that’s the beauty of a child’s creativity. Besides, it’s his rocket ship and he can do whatever he wants to it.
Wednesday
Wednesday he did a little more research as to what he should expect to see when he gets to outer space. You know, just so he’s prepared once he gets there. With a couple of connect the dots activities, he realized there was a lot to see and explore – stars, planets, passing rocket ships and more!
Thursday
Now we’re getting somewhere. My son is an official astronaut, has is own rocket ship and is ready for exploration. Outer space here he comes! 5-4-3-2-1, BLAST OFF!
Thursday he started with four maze activities – exploring through his rocket ship, the moon, a star and finally, Saturn.
After he finished those, we participated in the Read Across America event by reading his new Cat in the Hat book, There’s No Place Like Space! It couldn’t be more perfect for celebrating Dr. Seuss’ birthday and keeping with our outer space theme for the week.
Friday
Friday arrived and it was finally time to debut his new DVD, The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About Space. Following a robotic dog that came to earth, the Cat in the Hat took him on an out of this world adventure in the Space-ama-racer.
They meet Astronaut Audrey at her space station, at which time she introduces them to Space Rover (the robotic dog) who is helping her explore outer space. Before they know it, Space Rover gets tangled in some space junk while exploring and it’s up to Cat, Nick and Sally to save him. This is just the start of the adventure, as they follow Space Rover from planet to planet, through asteroids and so much more!
After watching the movie, I helped him cut out all of the activities he’d been working on during the week and using push-pin magnets, we placed them all on our dishwasher.
This allowed him to move the pieces around how he wanted and maneuver his astronaut through outer space. Along with the movie, it was a simple, but fun way to end his week exploring and learning about outer space.
Want to have your own outer space week with the Cat in the Hat? Enter using the giveaway form below and you could win copies of the DVD and book to get you started!