Journey to the Moon
Show Description:
Journey to the Moon, designed for children ages 4-6, aims for them to know what it would be like to travel to the Moon. Children observe a cycle of Moon phases and learn the names of the phases, enjoy a brief Moon Story, and then discuss how we could get there and what would we need to take with us. In preparation for a make-believe trip to the Moon, children don vests that are make-pretend space suits with air tanks on them. They see movies of real astronauts putting on space suits, the giant Saturn V rocket, and blast off in a pretend launch. They “experience” weightlessness, and look at Earth from space. The pretend 3-day excursion to the Moon is accomplished by the children marching in line out of the planetarium and making one orbit of the planetarium before re-entering. An adult leader leads the group, while the presenter changes the “set” in the planetarium to make it into a make-pretend Moon landscape, illuminating the planetarium with UV or unusual colored lights, and scattering some fake Moon rocks (foam rocks) around the floor. When the children re-enter the planetarium-as-the-Moon, they see video of what the Moon is like, astronauts hopping around, and collecting rocks. The children also hop around and collect the Moon rocks on the floor. They see a movie of the Lunar Rover and then liftoff and return safely to Earth.
Show sections:
Watching The Moon’s Phases
Moon Story
How Do We Get There?
Blast Off!
What Is The Moon Like?
On The Moon
Updates:
News/Updates for PASS: Journey to the Moon
Order:
This program is available in electronic format, with all images and movies included, from the following sources:
For questions regarding content,
e-mail Alan Gould.
Classroom Activities:
Associated classroom activities are under development.
