CANORA - An Early Childhood Celebration of Space for pre-kindergarten children and their parents/guardians was held at Canora Junior Elementary School recently, part of IMPACT (Intriguing Minds, Parents and Children Together).
Kim Gelowitz, program developer, said she enjoys visiting small towns and helping parents and children connect with valuable learning resources.
Joining Gelowitz at CJES were the Canora pre-kindergarten teacher and the Good Spirit School Division speech and language pathologist.
The March 21 event featured a variety of space-themed stations where “parents can see how their children are learning while they’re playing,” said Gelowitz.
At the Air Fort/Space Rover station, youngsters could pretend they were on a space mission and even dress up like an astronaut. They had the opportunity to follow directions, enter a code sequence and complete their mission.
The GeoSafari Talking Space Explorer is an interactive tool that uses audio and visuals to teach about planets, stars and space missions with a talking play telescope designed by scientists.
The sorting game station, also known as Oodles of Aliens, helps kids explore colours, numbers and patterns by playing with silly alien figures. Participants press the dice popper to roll a colour and number indicated by the dice, and then drop them in the matching-colour tray in the space ship.
At the Galactic Fuel Snack Station, youngsters learned about:
- Fine motor skills: stacking and skewering strengthens co-ordination
- Healthy eating: encourages nutritious food choice.
- Creative play: sparking the imagination with space-themed snacks.
At first glance, playing and stretching out slime at the Galaxy Slime Lab station just looks like a lot of fun, but here kids can explore their fine motor skills and basic scientific concepts.
The space-themed wind tunnel station helps inspire curiosity. Here children can learn about how air interacts with different objects, which often sparks questions about the forces of motion and flight.
The Astro Bounce Adventure station is where children can play, build co-ordination and strength, along with their social skills in a space-like atmosphere.
As one parent said while watching their child go through and enjoy the various space-related stations, “It’s too bad they never had this when I was a kid.’
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