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Each October, space enthusiasts around the globe celebrate World Space Week.
The event always occurs Oct. 4-10, regardless of whether the first date falls on Sunday, a Monday, or any other day of the week!
What does change each year is the theme. Not surprisingly, World Space Week 2019 will have a lunar theme in honor of the 50th anniversary of the first human to step on the moon.
How various countries will observe event
Last year, more than 5,000 events in over 80 countries celebrated the theme “Space Unites the World.”
To learn about the plans for this year, see World Space Week’s events list.
According to World Space Week organizers, any activity related to space or astronomy on (or around) October 4-10 counts as a World Space Week event. Here are some examples that they mention on their website:
- a small private activity at your local school
- a lecture evening at your company
- a special exhibition at your science center, museum, church, school or community center
- a radio, TV or online event
- a large-scale public event at a national stadium
NASA has several resources
Not surprisingly, NASA offers many resources for schools and families:
- Visit the Educators section of NASA’s website.
- Check out the Students section of NASA’s website.
- Watch the new #AskNASA series on YouTube.
- See when the Internal Space Station will pass over your area.
Other ways to observe World Space Week
Here are a several other ideas:
- Get a book about the moon or space via Amazon, a nearby bookstore or your local library.
- See if there’s an observatory near you (If so, plan ahead. Many recommend purchasing tickets in advance.)
- Buy a telescope and astronomy guidebook, and begin a new family tradition of finding celestial wonders together.
- See Orion’s monthly summary of what to watch for in the sky (here’s their October 2019 overview)
- Create exploding moon rocks
- Make some space-inpired arts and crafts featured on the Little Passports blog.
STEM challenges and unit studies
Also, here are some fun space resources I found on Teachers Pay Teachers:
- Planets and space STEM engineering challenges by Smart Chick
- Lunar landers engineering challenge by STEMsOfOneTree
- Moon landing Apollo 11 unit by Teacher’s Brain
Have other ideas for families or schools? Let me know.
