Starwars

As a family, we like Sci-fi films and Starwars is right up there. This theme came about as my Sister-in-law pointed out Starwars day (4th May) during this week. A Starwars theme could be adapted to suit a wide range of ages and could be incorporated into a Space theme too. As Robbie gets older we will revisit this theme add to it. I have added my planning mind map below and explained the activities we enjoyed.

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Starwars Yoga – Cosmic Kids videos on YouTube – Video 1, Video 2

Cosmic Kids yoga is great and has so many themes. We had great fun doing the Starwars routine and Robbie even brought in his homemade Claymore from Scotland week to use as a lightsaber.

Lightsaber games – resources: balloons, bubbles, stick/bat/toy lightsaber (we used the homemade sword that we made during our Scotland week using cardboard form a large box, paint and tin foil).

We had great fun playing lots of different games using our “lightsaber”.

Balloon Keep Up
We bounced the balloon into the air using the “lightsaber” and tried to keep it from touching the ground.

Balloon Balance
We tried to keep the balloon balancing on the lightsaber for as long as possible.

Bubble Pop
We tried to use the lightsaber to pop bubbled from our bubble machine.

These were all great fun, but quite challenging for Robbie as they required a lot of coordination and quick reflexes which he is still developing. He really enjoyed playing the games his way though.

Bubbles – Bubble machine/wand and bubble mix

Bubbles are always a hit in our house and they are very versatile. They were perfect for running through and pretending we were jumping to “light speed”! They were also great fun to chase and pop.

Yoda Headband – resources: plain paper, cardboard, green paint, sellotape.

This activity was very much a joint effort.

We painted a piece of paper and pieces of cardboard green then cut the paper in two long ways and the cardboard into ear shapes once it was dry. Mummy measured Robbie’s head and secured the paper round his head using sellotape to keep it in place. Mummy also used Sellotape to stick the ears onto the band. During this activity, we talked about Yoda, what his strengths were and why he was important to Luke Skywalker. We also talked about what lessons we could learn from him.

Paper plate Death Star – resources: paper plate, plain paper, black paint, scissors, glue.

We painted a paper plate black and coloured half a sheet of plain paper using a black pen. Mummy then cut out different sized squares, rectangles and a large circle. Once the plate was dry Robbie stuck the shapes onto it to make the finished Death Star.

Starwars Characters Hand/Footprint pictures – resources: plain paper, paint, pens.

Robbie painted his hands and feet, then stamped them onto plain paper to make the base of our characters. When they were dry we drew on their detail with different coloured pens.

This made a great picture and Robbie really enjoyed painting with his hands and feet.

Saving Characters from “Carbonite” Ice – resources: ice cube tray, lego/mini-figures, water, paintbrushes, sponges, Calpol syringe.

This is one of my favourite activities and can be done in almost any theme or topic. It’s easy to set up and keeps little explorer busy for some time!

Pop some lego/mini-figures into ice cube trays, fill it with water and put in the freezer for a few hours. I used lego men for the human characters, a turtle toy for Yoda and a teddybear toy for Chewbacca. When you’re ready to do the activity, bring the tray out the freezer and press out the ice cubes onto a large tray or plate. I gave Robbie a mug with warm water, some paintbrushes, sponges and a Calpol syringe and let him explore the different ways to free his characters.