The Kids in Space Show Summary

The 'Kids in Space Show' sets the mood with a fun bit of audience participation and a quick history of space flight, before all the children are enrolled as 'crewmen' and count down to their own rocket launch! Once in space the first view through the ships 'porthole' is introduced with a stunning view looking down at the Earth’s surface. This round screen in the captain’s control panel allows us to show a steady stream of high resolution graphics.

The Earth is depicted by a tennis ball-sized model. This acts as a frame of reference, and we reveal a relative sized globe for each planet we visit. The nature of space, gravity, orbits, and satellites are explained as our astronaut takes a space-walk, and from there it's onto our first landing, with a return to the moon and a reconstruction of Neil Armstrong's famous footstep.

The trip around the solar system then begins, with each planet providing a stimulating stop-off. After that it's time to head back towards the sun at record speed. Class members come to the front and each holds a planet, we then play a game with them to see how much the children can remember. All that remains now is to examine the sun, which is represented by a giant light on a stand. We explain about the Earth's orbital path around it, and through singing a song help the children understand that stars and suns are one and the same.

To see how the 'Kids in Space Show' relates to the science National Curriculum at Key Stages 1 & 2 click here.