Stars and planets
Space is the huge airless place where the Sun, Moon, stars and planets are found. A star is a giant ball of very hot gas that gives off its own light and heat. The star nearest to us is the Sun. Other stars are very far away, so they look like tiny dots. Sunlight takes about 8 minutes to reach the Earth. A planet is a round body that circles a star; it makes no light of its own and only reflects starlight. A smaller body that circles a planet is a moon; the Earth’s moon is the Moon. An asteroid is a lump of rock; a comet is made of ice and dust and grows a “tail” near the Sun. When a small rock burns up in the Earth’s atmosphere we see a “shooting star” (meteor).
“Space cards”: write star, planet, moon, asteroid, comet on 5 cards. A child draws a card and describes the body (does it make light? what does it circle?), and classmates guess.