Home-made play dough Moon Crators Sensory Bin for preschoolers and kindergartners to learn about our Solar System hands-on while exploring the Cosmos Study as part of Montessori Cultural Work.
We are continuing our Cosmos Unit Study with this sensory play invitation to learn about Outer Space, Moon, Lunar Craters, Meteors, and Meteorites with the Lunar Craters No-Cook Homemade Play Dough Sensory Bin. We are using National Geographic Kids First Big Book of Space book (buy here) as a reference. This book, with its colorful illustrations and simple text, introduces young children to the wonders of Space, explaining basic concepts of the universe, beginning with what is most familiar and expanding out into the cosmos. We learned that many chunks of rock float around in space. If the rock zooms into Earth’s atmosphere towards the planet’s surface, it is called a meteor. Usually, a meteor burns up before it reaches the ground. But sometimes, a meteor reaches Earth’s surface, and if it hits the ground it is called a meteorite.
A crater is a big, bowl-shaped hole on the surface of a planet or moon.
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Learning About Asteroids and Crater
A great way to learn about asteroids and their impact on planets is to make the Moon from home-made play dough. You can thus simulate the impact of asteroids with different-colored marbles. We were inspired to create this invitation to explore and learn after working on the KUMON Science Sticker Activity Book (buy here). “The moon has many holes on its surface. These holes are called craters.” [A child is invited to draw more craters on the KUMON book’s picture.]
We made no-cook home-made play dough, which came out very different from the one we used to buy, being much softer and lasting much longer.
Recipe:
- 1 cup of plain all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup salt
- 2 tablespoons of cream of tartar
- up to 3/4 cups of boiling water (adding in increments until it feels just right),
- food coloring (optional)
- Optional: a few drops of glycerine for extra shine.
You may also add essential oils or spices like cinnamon to give your dough an olfactory dimension.
Instructions:
First, mix flour, salt, cream of tartar, and oil in a large mixing bowl.
Then, add food coloring to the boiling water and pour it into the dry ingredients.
Keep stirring until the dough becomes a sticky integrated dough. If you are adding glycerine, do it now.
Lastly, allow the dough to cool and then knead it until all of the stickiness has gone. Keep going until the dough is perfect consistency! (If the dough is still a little sticky, add a little flour until it feels just right).
p.s. We use black beans as the main sensory filler, but you can also use black dyed rice.
Stars actually come in different colors depending on their temperature.
Other Cosmos-Themed Blog Posts & Resources
See HERE Solar-System-Space-black-bean-Sensory-Bin-Play-Tray.
This sensory bin is an amazing tool for learning about Outer space through imaginative play! Besides promoting fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination and tactile exploration, this bin is much fun for any galaxy sensory bin or a Space Themed sensory bin. This sensory bin offers an interactive experience as children can interact and manipulate the objects.
Solar System Puzzle
Round Kids’ Puzzle of the Solar System (buy here) is an amazing tool for space exploration! The puzzle features the Milky Way, galaxies, quasars, asteroids, and more. The color of each planet’s elliptical orbit matches the color of the planet to enhance the educational experience. (Adrian was able to first assemble it at 3.5 yo).
A hot glowing piece of space rock falling toward Earth is called a Shooting Star.
Transparent overlay pages add a new dimension to a traditional reading.
We love My First Discoveries Books. Buy The Moon Book here.
The Moon book illustrates hands-on the Moon and its effect on the Earth and oceans.
For more on the Space Unit Study, see here the COSMOS Unit Study.
See here a different recipe in the post “No-Cook Homemade Play Dough.”
If you are in Holiday spirit, see here “Holiday Inspired No-Cook Homemade Play Dough.”
For more on Science, see here Science 101 Series.
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