On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 landed on the moon. Six hours after the lunar landing, in the early morning hours of July 21, 1969, Astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first person to step on the moon’s surface.
Over 60 years later, the moon and space continue to capture the imagination of kids (and adults) around the world. We wonder what else might be “out there” in the skies above us, and imagine what it would be like to live on the moon or on another planet. Television programs such as Lunar Jim on Kids’ CBC fuel this curiousity in our children. Lunar Jim features Jim, an astronaut living in a settlement (Moonaluna) on Blue Moon L22. Next time you watch an episode of the show, try asking your preschooler open-ended questions such as “what would you take with you on a trip to the moon”, and “what do you think you would miss most about Earth is you lived somewhere like Lunar Jim’s settlement?”. If your kids are anything like ours, you will be inspired by how inventive, insightful, and honest their answers may be.
A few nights ago, after one of our discussions about the moon and stars, G. wanted to create a moon craft. It was already close to bedtime, but I did not want to miss the opportunity to let her imaginations continue to soar. Instead, we created Lunar Jim inspired “Good Night Moon” crafts. This was a simple, spur of the moment activity. I cut out the basic shapes of a moon, stars, and a hat from scraps of construction paper, and with a gluestick and a crayon G. took the project from there:
The result is evidence of imagination and creativity ignited:
G. (aged 24 months) asked for a hat to put on the moon. I was even more suprised when she proceeded to use one star as the moon’s eye, and another as the “pompom” on the end of the hat. She also chose the white crayon to add additional stars to her lunar scene. Where will your kids’ imaginations take them tonight?
