Blast Off Rockets - Toddler Art Project

Blast Off Rockets

Age: 18 Months - 5 Years or older (younger ones need more supervision)

Time: 15 min (+ Prep)

Theme: Rockets, Space, Imaginative play

Books: On the Launch Pad: A Counting Book About Rockets by Nancy Atterbury, Not a Box by Antoinette Portis

Materials:

Card Stock Weight Paper
Colored Cellophane (We used red but any color will do)
Glue Sticks
Small pictures of faces (I found them in old magazines and used a 1” round punch to cut them out)
Adults get to use Scissors or Exacto Knife and a Ruler

Prep: Cut the four primary pieces of the rocket out of card stock. Our rockets consisted of a 3” x 5” rectangle for the body, the side ‘wings’ are a 3” x 4” rectangle cut into 2 triangles, and the point was half of a 4” square, but you can cut them to whatever scale you like. Cut 3-5 strips of colored cellophane to be the jet, and several faces (human or animal) to act as passengers.

Activity: Each child gets a set of pieces: 1 large rectangle, 1 large triangle, 2 smaller triangles and colored cellophane. Using a glue stick, assemble the rocket (adding the jet last so it doesn’t take off before they are ready). Choose some passengers and add them onto the body of the rocket. Time to Blast Off!

 

Notes/Tips: Putting the 'passengers' out on a large paper plate will help them from ending up everywhere. Choosing passengers after the rocket is assembled will also give the glue a few moments to dry before playing. If you don't have any colored cellophane, party streamers make a fine jet too. Don’t forget to talk about the shapes - its a preliminary math skill.

 

Working on cutting skills with the scraps.