The Solar System with a Toddler: Week 1

Disclaimer: I have included some links in this post of products I am using for this unit. I am not getting any money out of any purchases that you make, I am just including them to make it easier to find any product that you might want for yourself, because I highly recommend everything I used!

Let's just begin with the fact that nothing this week went according to plan. This was my first week of homeschooling our preschooler, and I recognize fully that I have a lot to learn.

That being said, I am still happy with what I planned. In theory, it should have been fun and engaging. Life just happened.

I decided that I wanted to take the month of September to learn about the Solar System, more particularly the planets. This week we focused on the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, and the Moon.

Before we even began this week, I turned this printable into magnets. Ira LOVES magnets, and I thought these were just the cutest things, even if they aren't realistic. And as I suspected, they were a huge hit! I made them months ago, and he still loves them! I just laminated them, and put sticky magnets on the backs of them. I bought the thicker ones to make sure they stuck to the fridge. I also (thankfully) remembered to write the names of each planet on the backs before I laminated them so that I could help Ira put them in the correct order. There isn't a Sun or Moon, but hey. It's a free printable. I'm happy. 😊

Last weekend I found this puzzle at Barnes and Noble in the clearance section, and I just couldn't pass it up! Ira loves the alphabet and puzzles, so to have them together in one place is awesome! The boys flat out fought over it after 15 minutes of it, that is how much they liked it, so now I pull it out when only one of them is awake. Someday in the not-so-distant future (who am I kidding? The VERY distant future) I may use them to help with the concept of sharing. Just not this week.

I also bought this book and this Of course these aren't necessary, but I was not satisfied with what the library had to offer, and I just really liked these. The board book is Asa's favorite, and Ira looks forward to reading about each planet each day before we get started on my prepared activities. I really love the Smart Kids Space book because they use real pictures of the planets. And in both books you can just read a little bit about each planet, or you can read over a bunch of facts if your child is interested.

Actually, I am positive that just reading out of those books and letting them play daily with the puzzle and magnets would be all they need. And it would have made this week easier. But, I am trying to introduce Ira to a more structures preschool-like environment, so I will keep trying.

So, here was my plan for this week:

Monday: Read about the Sun; make sun catchers with tissue paper.

Tuesday: Read about Mercury; make homemade playdough together and form it into little Mercury's and use fingers to make craters.

Wednesday: Read about Venus; touch cold things and hot things and learn the difference between the two (more of a review for him); drink a hot drink and a cold drink and discuss the difference.

Thursday: Read about Earth; take a nature walk and talk about what we see. Maybe collect leaves, rocks, sticks, etc.

Friday: Read about the Moon from this book; make moon sand together; take moon sand outside and let them have at it!

Okay.... so this didn't happen at all. I am sure any experienced homeschool mom would take one look at this plan and give me a list of why it was doomed to fail. But I don't really want to hear about it right now. I am still recovering from my sense of failure. Does this mean I will give up. No, but it still hurts right now.

So here is what really happened...

Monday: Daddy's home because it is Labor Day. So we finally get around to reading about the Sun at about 4:30 PM. I leave out cut tissue paper for sun catcher on the table while I change Asa's diaper. Come back to find Ira had strewed said tissue paper all over floor. Help him clean it up, and then proceed to put tissue paper on sticky paper by myself while he said the alphabet quietly to himself in my lap. First art project a flop.

Tuesday: Nothing. After late bedtimes because of the holiday, we were all kind of grumpy and totally off.

Wednesday: Tried to fit 2 planets into one day (ha!). Read about Mercury, but Ira is too busy wanting to move on to Venus. We make dough together, but then I spend the rest of the time watching them try again and again to eat it, only to make gagging faces and get watery eyes. No one cared to even try to make balls and form craters, despite multiple demonstrations by me. Now I can't even remember why I left the room, but when I came back, there was crumbled up playdough all over the ground. They were put down for naps and I cleaned up. When Ira woke up, we read about Venus, and "touched" hot and cold things. I mostly held his hand to get him to touch anything, and then he didn't want to talk about it. He just recited his alphabet of emotions to me. We didn't even try the drinks.

Thursday: Read about Earth. Went for nature walk, but I spent most of my time chasing boys who were running in opposite directions. It was a little hotter than it has been, so we were all thirsty and exhausted quickly. Not once did we stop to look at even a blade of grass.

Friday: Read about the Moon. Made moon sand in the afternoon, and guys... this was the best activity ever! Ira isn't easily engaged. He would rather watch a movie 😕, but he played with this "sand" for over 30 minutes! Even Asa would go back and forth to play in it for a while. It was messy, and really has nothing to do with the Moon, but I am so glad we gave it a shot!

Ira got really upset because I had to leave to make dinner, but if I would have stayed and kept emptying the sand I squished in a cup so he would squish it down and scatter it everywhere, he would have been engaged for a lot longer. We are definitely going to be doing this activity again! 

There are so many things I would have done differently, and all in all this was a hard week for me. But the moon sand activity ended the week on a good note, and I am excited to see how next week turns out!