Rocket Blast Off!

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ROCKET BLAST OFF!

Part of our series of DIY art activities for kids.

THE BOOK

MOUSETRONAUT GOES TO MARS

By MARK KELLY
3-2-1…blast off! The smallest member of the team, a mouse named Meteor, is back on board and ready to come to the rescue on an interplanetary adventure!

Meteor the mousetronaut returns to outer space in this exciting story from #1 New York Times bestselling author and retired NASA astronaut Commander Mark Kelly and renowned illustrator C.F. Payne.

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learn more with:

MAE AMONG THE STARS

By rODA aHMED
A beautiful picture book for sharing, inspired by the life of the first African American woman to travel in space, Mae Jemison.

When Little Mae was a child, she dreamed of dancing in space. She imagined herself surrounded by billions of stars, floating, gliding, and discovering. She wanted to be an astronaut. Her mom told her, "If you believe it, and work hard for it, anything is possible.”

Little Mae’s curiosity, intelligence, and determination, matched with her parents' encouraging words, paved the way for her incredible success at NASA as the first African American woman to travel in space.

SHOP LOCAL (SHIPPING AVAILABLE):

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WHAT YOU'LL NEED

  • Multi-coloured construction paper
  • One sheet of card stock (recommended 8.5”x11” or larger)
  • Glue stick
  • Ribbon (optional)
  • Scissors
  • Black acrylic or tempera paint
  • Dish soap
  • Teaspoon
  • Multi coloured pastels/crayons/pencils
  • Paint brush
  • Pencil
  • Eraser
  • Clear tape

WHAT to do

1. Begin by completely colouring your piece of white card stock with assorted colours.

This can include different shapes and patterns. It can also simply be colourful scribbles or rainbow patterns.

2. In a jar, mix a 2:1 ratio of black acrylic/tempera paint to dish soap. A measurement of 2 teaspoons of black acrylic/tempera paint and 1 teaspoon of generic dish soap is enough.

Mix thoroughly and apply a thin layer over the entire piece of paper. Set aside to dry.

3. Let’s make your rocket! To begin, you can either use a white piece of cartridge paper or a toilet paper roll and colour it the colour of your choice. If you have coloured construction paper, choose the desired colour of your rocket. Cut the piece of paper horizontally so the strip is about 4-5 inches wide.

4. Begin to roll your strip of paper to the desired width of your rocket. I recommend a width of 1-2 inches.

5. Use clear tape to secure your roll so it stays. Don’t worry about the clear tape showing or not being perfect. That side of the rocket will be adhered down.

6. Choose another colour of construction paper or use another piece of white cartridge paper.* Cut the piece of paper diagonally.

*If you are using white cartridge paper, feel free to colour and draw on it after the paper has been cut.

7. Roll one of the long edges so that the point meets the centre point.

8. Draw a line on the piece of paper to mark where to cut off the excess paper. Once cut, secure the cone together with clear tape.

10. Use the clear tape to double side tape the cone to the cylinder inside of the cone.

11. Use excess sheets of coloured/cartridge paper to decorate your rocket ship! You can make a window, a logo or use markers to make designs on it.

12. If you have ribbon, cut three pieces of ribbon at slightly different lengths. This can be 2 inches, 2.5 inches and 3 inches. Cut one edge of the ribbon on an angle. With clear tape, adhere each piece of ribbon to the inside of the cylinder.

*If you don’t have ribbon, you can cut pieces of paper to give the effect of flames.

13. Your coloured and painted sheet of paper is probably now dry! Tap it lightly with your finger to ensure it is. If so, use a toothpick, barbeque stick or anything with a fine but blunt tip to begin etching designs on your paper.

14. Use excess coloured/cartridge paper to cut out shapes of stars, planets, swirls or anything you would like to further decorate your space scene!

15. With clear tape, double side tape or glue down your rocket ship into your space scene!

Image

CREATIVE EXTENSIONS

1. Add some extra glitter stars that you can create with aluminum foil.

2. Make a frame for your creations with cardboard strips and decorate with chalk, pastels or markers. Embellish with foil, sparkles or images cut from magazines.

writing

Write an intergalactic story or write a poem with this format:

S - For example... Sammy the Sailor was determined to fly his ship from the sea to the stars.

P - People laughed at Sammy, and told him that "sails are not wings."

A - Although Sammy knew they were right, he also believed in magic.

C - Can you finish Sammy's story? Create your own adventures.

E - ...

drama

Create a space character or alien and make up a new language for that character.

  • What’s the character’s name? Create a background info sheet on the planet that the character comes from.
  • How does the character say 'hello' physically?
  • Create a costume for the character and film yourself in character with someone else from Earth interviewing you.

science connection

How do rockets actually work? Let's explore with a quick experiment!

  • Grab a balloon and fill it up with air.
  • Instead of tying the ballon, let it go and watch it fly.
  • What direction does the balloon fly in? Where does the air go?

Rockets work a lot like your balloon! Exhaust gases (like your air) propel the rocket at a high speed to push it forward into space. What else can you think of that moves in a similar way?

We'd love to see your rockets! Leave us a comment below or share them with us on social media.

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