To begin our topic on Space, we created a space picture to summarise what we wanted to learn about. First, we brainstormed on the whiteboard all the different aspects of Space they were interested in:
- planets
- moons
- the sun
- stars
- asteroids, meteors, comets
- astronauts
- rockets
- satellites
- aliens!
Then I gave the girls and myself (to model!) a piece of plain white card each and some wax crayons so they could draw some of the things we had come up with.
We had recently been to the library so had taken out a variety of both fiction and non-fiction books on the topic, which we had been reading through for a few days prior, so the girls had the idea to browse through some for inspiration by looking at the illustrations and front covers. I also put this YouTube video on the TV for background noise/images to set the mood. 😊
So we drew colourful patterned planets and moons with wax crayons, a bright sun... One wanted to draw a rocket, so I showed her how by drawing one on my paper... We used a white crayon to draw dots as stars all over...
When we were done, I diluted some black, red, green and blue paints into a pallette for them to mix as they liked then paint over the top of their drawings. I think you're supposed to use watercolours, but we didn't have any at the time so diluted poster paint had to do! The wax crayons worked to resist the paint a little, but not enough to make the paint just run off... So once the pictures had dried a little, we used kitchen towel to gently rub over the paper: the paint on top of their wax drawings came clean off whilst the paint on the paper itself wasn't affected.
Once the pictures had dried completely, we used glitter gel pens to add extra details. Then I hung them up (including the toddler's painting!) in the corner of the room using string and mini wooden pegs.
Paper Mache Planets
We decided to make some 3D models of planets to hang in the other corner of the room (what shape should they be? spheres!) - so I thought this would be a good opportunity to introduce the girls to paper mache. 😁
We didn't have newspaper to hand and, according to the internet, it was possible to do paper mache with toilet paper... Not something I'd tried before, so why not try now together with the girls??
So I blew up 3 balloons, tore a load of toilet paper into separate sheets, mixed some PVA glue with water and gave the girls a paintbrush and balloon each. I showed them how to do the first sheet, i.e. lay it flat onto the balloon and paint over the top with the glue mixture, and explained they needed to cover the whole balloon in the same way. It was a little tricky keeping the balloon from rolling everywhere, but the twins soon got the hang of it! I needed to help the toddler a lot more with hers.
When they were done, I hung the balloons from the knotted end with a safety pin onto a piece of strung in the corner of the ceiling.
They were dry after 24 hours, so we took them down to decorate... It was this point where the instructions online (and my memory!) were a little unclear - were we supposed to pop the balloon or not? After some discussion, we decided to pop the balloons and the girls were pleased to see their paper structures didn't collapse too.
The next part was to paint their planets, but of course paint is wet... And when the toilet paper structures became wet, they went soft again! In hindsight, I really should have known better! (Gonna blame baby brain here 😅) But it was too late now. So I was really proud of the girls for not getting upset, but instead asking if we could try again but this time not pop the balloons before painting. 😍 We'd been working on growth mindsets (not giving up in the face of difficulties or upon making mistakes) for the past week or so, and this really seemed to have paid off. 💪
So we started again from scratch, but with smaller balloons this time because it took longer than they wanted last time, and after they were dried we got to painting them with the balloons still intact inside.
I poured the primary colours as well as black and white into a paint pallette each for each girl and let them paint their planet however they wished. It was a little difficult keeping the balloons still, so we balanced the balloons inside a plastic cup as they painted.
When they were finished, I hung their planets up again using the safety pins and string.
The next week, we were invited to a birthday party and were given some wooden stars to decorate inside the party bags to take home - so we hung these stars in between their planets. M said she liked the room with their planets and stars on one side and their space paintings on the other because it felt like they were actually in space - maybe on a space station, because that was like a house in space for astronauts to live on and we were in our house in space. 😂👍
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