Free Astronaut and Rocket Ship Lessons
Did you know NASA publishes educational information for kids and teens? They do! If you have children who are interested in space, take a look at the resources mentioned in this article. These truly are high-quality resources, and they’re free!
Adventures in Rocket Science Guidebook
NASA’s Adventures in Rocket Science guidebook is 178 pages of information that’s free for you to download, print, or read online! You’ll find information about how to use the guide as well as information about the history of rockets, all kinds of hands-on activities, and more.
Build a Rover with Shapes
This activity is suitable for children of various ages. It will challenge your children to build a rover using only shapes!
Join the Adventure on Mars in This Mission to Mars Student Challenge
Students in grades K-12 are invited to explore Mars with NASA scientists, engineers, and the Perseverance Mars rover as they learn all about STEM and design their very own mission to Mars! Includes guided education plans, expert tips, and resources from NASA.
Make a Paper Mars Helicopter
In this project, your child will build a paper helicopter. Just like NASA engineers had to try out different versions of the Mars helicopter before coming up with a final design, your child will experiment with the design of his or her helicopter to see what works best.
Make a Scale Solar System
In this project, your child will create his or her own scale model of the solar system by learning to calculate scale distances, the relative size of planets, or both.
Explore Rocks Using Core Sampling
This activity, your child will make his/her own “rock” and then use simple tools to explore inside.
Code a Mars Landing
In this activity, students will program several features of EDL (a series of events that occurs from the time the spacecraft encounters the top of the Martian atmosphere until it safely touches down on the surface), such as determining the spacecraft’s proximity from the surface once it arrives at Mars.
NASA Pi Day Challenge
Can your student use pi to solve these stellar math problems faced by NASA scientists and engineers?
18 Ways NASA Uses Pi
Whether it’s sending spacecraft to other planets, driving rovers on Mars, finding out what planets are made of or how deep alien oceans are, pi takes them far at NASA! This article shares just some of the ways pi helps explore space.
Code a Mars Sample Collection Video Game
In this project, students will use Scratch, a visual programming language, to create a video game that simulates the way NASA collects samples on Mars.
Make a Volcano
Make a volcano with baking soda, vinegar, and play dough. Then add multiple layers to investigate like a NASA scientist, and test friends and family to see if they can guess what’s inside your volcano!
Learn What Happens When the Sun Blocks NASA’s Signal
What is “solar conjunction” and how does it affect communications with our spacecraft on Mars?
How rockets work, and launching rockets.
Games, lessons, and other fun stuff
