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Space has been a big theme in our house for nearly a year now. So when I saw instructions for making gelatin window clings in the book Learn with Play: 150+ Activities for Year-Round Fun & Learning (click the link for more details about this book that I co-authored), I thought it would be really fun to try our hand at making some space-themed gelatin window clings.
Note: Find more great space activities for kids on my Space Unit Study page.
Directions for making the gelatin are listed on page 44 of Learn with Play: 150+ Activities for Year-Round Fun & Learning, courtesy of Crystal from The Science Kiddo.
We used unflavored Knox Gelatine in our recipe. I followed Crystal’s directions, except I accidentally poured the gelatin too thick. Oops! But we managed to make it work anyway.
After the gelatin cooled a bit, but before it had fully hardened, we dripped various colors from our set of liquid watercolors into the gelatin.
We tried to make our designs look like planets and the sun. It was fun to discuss color choices for each object in our solar system that we created. Orange for the sun, red for Mars, orange for Venus, etc.
Once the gelatin had hardened in the fridge overnight, we brought it out to cut into shapes. As you can see, the colors did continue to diffuse through the gelatin a bit as it cooled, but the four designs we created were all still quite separate from one another.
We used a butter knife to cut each design out of the dish. Here is our Venus.
Venus stuck to the window without too much difficulty.
Later we added Neptune and a few others objects from our solar system.
This activity was a great way to combine art with learning about our solar system!
If you are learning about the planets, you might also enjoy my Solar System 3-Part Cards as well!
More resources for learning about space
More space-related posts from Gift of Curiosity:
- Space Printables Pack
- How do astronauts eat in space?
- DIY astronaut glove box
- Astronaut Do-a-Dot Printables
- Montessori phases of the moon activities
- How did the moon get its craters?
- Recording the Earth’s rotation with shadows
- How planets orbit the sun
- Constellation craft for kids
- Solar system 3-part cards
You’ll find more resources for learning about life in space on my Space Unit Study page and my Space and the Solar System Pinterest board.
Follow Katie @ Gift of Curiosity’s board Unit Ideas: Space & the Solar System on Pinterest.
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