Investigation File: Aliens and Outer Space

It all happened one day when two of our children found some mysterious bowls in the play kitchen area. They tested the bowls by placing them on their faces. Suddenly, they were aliens!

Other friends joined in the conversation and fun, wondering about aliens, space, and beyond. As the week went by, we had some inventive alien looks in the class using things they found in the classroom. We then imagined and explored what outer space might look like and how people might travel through space.

Bringing in books and pictures about planets and galaxies, we noticed there are many planets, but each very different. By understanding the distance of the planets from the sun, we learned that some planets are hot (as they are closer to the sun) and some planets are cold (as they are further away from the sun). We wondered what other planets look like - is there land, water, food, and toys?

Imagining what space might look like

Pretending we are planets and dancing around the sun

The children had the following thoughts when discussing space:

Jupiter is a real planet

            There are snow puddles in space

            Aliens in space! Aliens are far away and they live in spaceships

            We can have robots in space. There is water!

Mommy and daddy want to go to space

Some planets are hot. They are red.

Everyone got excited when the conversation turned to aliens. The children had the following questions regarding aliens:

What do their eyes look like?

What do their noses look like?

What do their eyebrows look like?

Do they eat moon rocks?

Do they eat carrots?

We then talked about earth, where we live, and the reason we live on earth. The children observed that a globe has some green and a lot of blue. They also noticed that the globe spins. We talked about how earth is just right for humans.

The children were very engaged when learning about earth, planets, space, and beyond. We will continue our investigation for reporting.