Twinkle twinkle little star
Introduction
This is great for language skills and lots of fun! Rhymes are really important for children’s literacy and communication skills.
Twinkle Twinkle
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are.
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.
Activities
Singing
Have fun singing or saying the rhyme together. Make your own actions for the stars twinkling in the night sky. When you talk about up above, reach up high. You can be as dramatic and expressive as you
wish.
Talk about stars
Where and when will you see them? Use this as an opportunity to enrich your child’s language and to have conversations. Make your own stars
You could draw them and cut them out. Can you make stars in different sizes and patterns?
Perhaps you could make them out of different materials. You could try play dough or salt dough. Why not make some star biscuits and ice them. Remember to seek out the opportunities to develop their
vocabulary and their understanding. Describe the stars you made. Are they stripy, shiny, sparkly, smooth, zigzagged, soft etc?
Which one do you like the best and why? Can you make one that looks like a diamond in the night sky? This is great for learning about properties and scientific language.
Try sticking tin foil onto card and then
cutting out star shapes. You could make patterns with a pencil on the foil. How many stars do you have? Count them together, touching each one as you say the number.
Feeling energetic?
Why not do some star jumps! See how many you can do, counting as you go.
Make a rocket ship
Why not create your own rocket ship together to fly to the stars. You could make this from old boxes, plastic containers, scrap materials and other bits and bobs you can find. Cutting, creating,
designing, imagining and inventing are all great learning opportunities.
Where will your rocket ship travel to? Will there be a count down… 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, blast off?
What name will you give your super spacecraft?
You may have toy figures that you can incorporate into the play. Your child may pretend to travel through the air and into space. Which planet will they go to? You can use language such as soar, speed, zoom, float and atmosphere.
Why not make a spaceship from your sofa cushions and other bits and bobs
A spoon may be a gear stick or a colander might be a part of the control panel. Use what you have around the house. Pretend you are an astronaut on a mission. This creative activity is great for encouraging them to make up stories, be imaginative and enrich their language.
Facts
Did you know that there are billions of stars in our solar system.
The nearest star to us is the sun.
People used the stars to navigate
their way around.
What is a star? A star is actually a ball of gas, mostly hydrogen and helium, which is held together by its own gravity.