Owl & Toadstool: Astronomy Lapbook

Hello Sisters in Guiding!

Happy Belated Easter...
It turned out to be a beautiful weekend here.

A few years ago, when I was Brown Owl, I made up a Brownies' Exploring Space Badge Lapbook. This was the very first Lapbook project that I had made with my former Brownies. You may have already viewed this a few years ago on my website "Lee Ann's Girl Guide Notebook" but here I offer the details {I will attempt to add the links for the resources that I had used in this lapbook}. We allowed two meetings to complete this double lapbook...and everything was precut. {This Lapbook could easily be adapted to suit the Guide's Astronomy Badge}.

Front Cover: I found this "Best Work On Earth" printable from a book called Pats and Praises 143 Reproducible Patterns to Build Self Esteem in the Classroom. Written and illustrated by Mary Strohl and Susan Schneck. Copyright 1990 by Scholastic. We added the Exploring Space badge image to the sun...and also, not shown, added the girl's photo to the Astronaut to personalize it. We then painted the cover with blue glitter and stars paint. This lapbook was made using old file folders...keep in mind that when making lapbooks it is ok to use different style/coloured folders. If doing a double lapbook and one folder is slightly larger then you can just easily trim it to fit.

Inside View 1 above photo: Top left corner we have the different types of Galaxies painted with the glitter paint {I can not find the link for this}...and below that we have "Your Universe Address" {this i made in microsoft word...Name:__, Street:__, Town:__, Province:__, Country:__, Continent:__, Planet:__, Solar System, Location in Galaxy:Orion's Arm, Galaxy: Milky Way, Local Group, Local Super Cluster: Virgo, and Universe}. The yellow square {I used one page of a caterpillar book} unfolds into an area for drawing...below that is a black area for making constellations with star stickers {or a light coloured gel pen would work}. The layered booklet is for adding facts and photos {Roberta Bondar, Phases of the moon, Canadarm I,II, Dexter, CSA, ISS images, Chart of your age on the planets}. The top right corner {which is actually the back flap of the lapbook} has 'Stargazing Rules" which unfolds...below that is a blank globe {from Pats and Praises} for notes or drawing... and below that we have other Stargazing hints from Canadian Guider Magazine {Looks like March/April 1995 ...I do not have that issue but the photocopy looks like mar/apr 95}. The shuttle, globe, "keep moving forward" and "get ready to take off!" images are from Pats and Praises.

Inside View 2 above photo: To the left we have "Blast Off to Success" from Pats and Praises. As the girls completed a section of the Exploring Space badge they got a star sticker and moved the Shuttle along the string closer to "success". The banner "Astronomy 2009" was taken from a free poster "Canadian Skies" {they offer other freebies there too!} for the International Year of Astronomy {even though we made this lapbook in 2010 I had mentioned to the girls the fact that the previous year was the International Year of Astronomy...better late then never!}. Also on that page we have areas for making constellations/asterisms with stickers...and a free printable "My Solar System" mini book {we added stickers of the planets inside}. I'll explain the right side of the second folder next since it is more visible in the below photo...

Inside View 3 above photo: Starting with the green double pocket...this is used to hold a Star Light Poem , extra star stickers, a paper that lists a few cool astronomy sites which I will list at the end of this post, a starfinder {fortune teller activity}, and a song: tune BINGO...

We all live on this great big planet

and Earth is it's name-o

E-A-R-T-H

E-A-R-T-H
E-A-R-T-H

and Earth is it's name-o

{Repeat but this time replace letter E with a clap...then continue along replacing each letter with a clap until all letters are replaced with a clap}.

Above the green pocket is a compass drawing that I made in Word. The girls had to label the compass points...and got a star sticker when completed. The dot-to-dot constellations were photocopied from a little activity book that I can no longer find in my stuff but I still have the photocopies...dot-to-dots for Scorpio, Sagittarius, Leo, Canis Major, and Orion stapled into a booklet. The orange paper is just a fan folded blank page for notes or drawings. The "get into orbit" and "Keep Shining Brightly" images are from Pats and Praises. The pink paper is just five note pages stapled into a mini book with constellation patterns inside. The folded page below that booklet is a page of the night sky...but I do not have a source for that photocopy. {I took all these photos in 2010 and just noticed that I did not get a pic of that page unfolded}.

This view shows the yellow page ,Caterpillar fold unfolded, for drawing a picture to go along with one of the many legends about the stars. Also, the inside of the Solar System mini book with stickers.

This lapbook combines both Brownie Program, "Reach for the Stars", and the "Exploring Space" Badge. You will notice that there are activities in this lapbook that are not listed in the Brownie program/badge work but I added extra stuff anyway. The amount of detail that you want to get into depends on the group of girls and the amount of time you have.

I've done this badge with both Guides and Brownies a few times over the years. Here are some games that we had played ...

Constellation Tag {same as regular tag but they have to say the name of a constellation to get "unfrozen"}

Stars Alive {use flashlights...they get into groups of 5 or 6 and they have to project their lights on the ceiling forming a constellation ...you could place markers on the floor then have the girls stand on them and then project their flashlights on the ceiling}.