National Planetarium, Kuala Lumpur

Our day trip travel essential items:

A small bag.

Reference book

Space Toobs

Bwahahaha.

 

And of course, water, snack, small change, wet wipes, 

mini first aid kit and spare change of clothes.

 This is where we shot our new Facebook cover picture.

Love the rawness of it.

Entrance is free but I bought us tickets for the dome theater movie at rm8 each.

This is the entrance.

 The place is intentionally dimmed for a space-y feel.

The display units are bilingual.

Winnie explaining the phases of the moon to the kids.

The anti-gravity room is basically a slanted compartment with a slide.

Needless to say, It was Dragon's fav part of the trip.

First one to jump down the slide while the boys were procrastinating.

The kids had a great time with all the interactive displays.

Some were broken but they didn't mind.

 This one has a water pump to demonstrate the different densities.

The back of the display is more lit up.

Time to take out the toobs for some matching games :)

This is the display to try the trendelenburg position but the kids thought it was a slide :)

Cute little Dexter makes a handsome astronaut

Space pods

This part of the planetarium is like a space station 'apartment'

There is a 'standing' sleeping bag.

The toilet.

Fifteen minutes before showtime, the loud speaker kept blaring about showtime.

Everyone naturally rushed for the toilets =.="

 It's really pretty inside. 

Dragon said, "Its a rainbow"

I told Tiger we are launching into space and he totally bought it.

Spent the rest of the show on my lap.

It can be a little nauseating and it gave me migraine. 

Do bring some paracetamol if you are not great with spinning images.

Then head to the top floor for the 

We drove there on a Saturday morning and Waze didn't fail us.

Location:

National Planetarium

Jalan Perdana, Tasik Perdana, 

50480 Kuala Lumpur, 

Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur

Entrance is free.

Movie Ticket (about astronaut training and life in space): Rm 8 each

Link to Planetarium Negara's official website : here.

There is a Poster Contest for Primary and Secondary school children. 

Closing date 30th Sept 2015.

Our kids were too young to get into the details but Tiger and Dexter totally enjoyed themselves.

Dragon just wanted to play witht the slide while Deedee was an angel, as usual.

It was a short tour with lots of new things to see for these lil ones.

Definitely worth your time if you do not expect too much. 

We paired this trip with the Bird Park which is just a stone's throw away.

One a scale of 1 to 5:

Price: 5
Fun: 3
Educational: 4
Kid Friendliness: 3

Tot School: S is for Star and Space

He enjoyed almost everything that I set up for Star/space week  ^.^

Perhaps it is due to the fact that we are taking things easier, allowing him to have the time to enjoy the process.

I am still energetic enough but I can feel the toil of pregnancy catching up.

Hence the slowing down...

He is still saying NO! to flashcards =.="

Also, he is refusing to do Little Math or Little Reader. Darn it!

I have just downloaded Beta version of Little Musician and he LOVES it!

It supplements our perfect pitch training.

Here's the link: Little Musician

You have to give this a try :)

If not for Tot School & Montessori, we'll probably be watching Barney, a lot..hehe!

My little nerd loves the Peter Weatherall songs I downloaded from You tube,

especially the Push & Pull Song.

His speech is developing at a breathtaking speed. He is asking,

Where, Who, How? ALL THE TIME.

The Tot Tray Setup here

Here are some snapshots into our School life:

Here's Tiger with the S cards.

He enjoyed naming the planets.

As expected, we did not get the moon phases on the scratch cards :)

He did not like the glass beads I prepared.

So, I replaced them with smiley stickers.

Tiger called them the "bleck bleck" stickers while sticking out his tongue

He went into Crazy Tot Mode again and did all these.

He kept asking for more when he was done, even after a bath :)

He loved the matching activity with the planet cards.

I lost count how many times he chose this tray.

By the end of first week, he was working independently.

Monkey's in the pic too because, well, he's pretty much around all the time :)

He REALLY enjoyed learning the names of the planets.

Here, he matched our felt planets to the poster

Making 'space' with black crayon and stars

The Math Peg puzzle.

He knows 0-10, so this is independent work.

Arranging in sequence.

He even extended the activity by matching them to his sticky numbers

Cling gels

He tore 'Saturn' into pieces :p

Reciting his alphabets.

I gave him the uppercase stickers for matching.

He is in his letters phase right now.

He is still very much in love with his Space Sensory Bin and Centre ^.^

Art & craft

Glitter glue & tongue depressor star

Sponge painting

Others

Water Bead Sensory Bin 

<<< >>>

Linking to Tot School at 1+1+1 = 1

Tot Trays: S is For Star and Space

~~Tiger's 21.5 months ~~

Welcome to Space Week presented in trays!

This week, I am trying to focus the trays on space-y stuff.

We moved the educational toys & puzzles to his new IKEA shelf in the living room.

<<< >>>

S is for star printout from 1+1+1 = 1

& stickers

A craft basket:

A hot-glued tongue depressor star and some shiny stars

 

I printed out 2 sets of space cards just to see if he prefers the actual pics or the cartoon-y ones.

The ones on the left are the Planets 3 part cards from MontessoriMom.com.

We are using them for matching only.

The cards on right are printed from the Space Tot pack at 2teachingmommies

This tray consist of a phases of the moon card from Tweedlewink,

a scratch card and a wooden tongue depressor (to scratch out the moons)

We will most definitely not get the moons but it would be fun to see the colours :)

These are some space themed gel window clings that we are using on a clear display

Some foam stars, moon and planet and a bottle of paint

to make our own solar system.

Magnet page from Makinglearningfun and some glass beads.

Worksheets and printouts

To break the monotony of space, some numbers work :)

The top of the shelf's a little messy :p

On the left:

• Alphie with S card
• Music box (tuning fork and bell for note A)
• Mr Schubert's pic and POI

On the right:

• Right brain stuff in basket: Chinese, Doman, Dolch, ESP, memory, expressions, TW actions card.
• Trace letter S, sandpaper S, touchy-feely S
• TW flashcards of Earth structure, Solar system and life cycle of star

Tiger's been enjoying the space center and his sensory bin very much.

I am hoping he loves the trays too!

More wonderful resources and ideas from:

1. Montessori-inspired Astronomy activities from Living Montessori Now
2. Preschooler trays from Counting Coconuts
3. A detailed month of science unit on Solar System from Nurturing the Tender Years

Linking up to Tot School at 1+1+1 = 1

&

World Space Week 2012 Bloghop

Space Sensory Bin and Command Center

We are officially launching Space Week here in Tiger's Tot School

 Imagine if suddenly he decides that he isn't into space anymore?

*faint*

Here's the space sensory bin I put together before bedtime

The Space Bin is very simple.

• Black beans as base. 
• Glow-in-the-dark Moon, Sun and Stars
• Mommy-made felt planets
• Some small prickly pom-poms



The Sensory Bin is placed at Tiger's Space Command Center, which is really his Art Center :p

Here's what I did:

On the wall:

I stuck a space poster (from Popular bookstore) on his dry erase board (from Becon Stationery)

Then I covered his art material with a piece of black felt. To reduce distractions/space statics :p

On the floor:

I just lined the floor with some shiny, foil paper, meant for outdoor use (from Daiso).

On it are his illuminated globe (from ELC), sensory bin and some space-themed books.

Note: The gorgeous globe is currently on half price promotion!

Books

I rummaged through our collection and found these:

A space touchy-feely book

Papa, Please Get The Moon For Me (Tiger loves this book)

Berenstain Bear's On The Moon (Chinese & English version)

Fact books (for EK) Planet Earth Question & Answer Book

Scholastic 1000 Things You Should Know About Space

Update: 03 April 2012

He LOVES his space center!!!!!!!!!!!

His fav activity, asking the slave (that's me) to name the planets over and over again

and again...

and again.....Not that I mind ^.^

This is his favourite bin to date.

Hooray!

He thinks it's funny to hear me say, "ladle"

Linking up to It's Playtime at Imagination Tree

&

World Space Week 2012 Blog Hop