Simple, inexpensive activities for your classroom or for you to send home with your kids.

Interesting site for videos as well as actually getting your kids involved in Mars exploration.  I didn’t register, but looked around.  Nice opportunity.

This is definitely not my favorite site, because, like alot of my kids, I’m so ADD, too much reading drives me nuts.  However, it’s a good site for webquests, research, and such.  Listed a couple of games separately, but most of what are here are crosswords, etc.

Take facts about the solar system and use them to put the planets in order based on whatever characteristic is used.  Some of these are a little tricky.

When you’re teaching space science, it doesn’t take long to see just how awesome NASA really is for educators.  These images are wonderful for use in your classroom or just to look through yourself.  Thanks, NASA, for making it all available.

Help your kids get acquainted with the night’s sky any time of the year.  Good explanations and descriptions of the constellations.  Also deep space objects, planet locations for the month, and events, like the solstice and equinox.  You can see tonight’s sky, or past skies through the Archives. Check below to get an idea about what’s offered. Nicely done as usual, Hubble.

Okay, I’m adding this one because it’s pretty.  Would look great on a big screen.  Nice way to look through the solar system and the universe at a select number of things.  BUT…Not alot of new information.  No animation as far as spin and rotation.  Just pretty.

Another new experience for the site, we’re listing a Hulu resource.  From here, you can access 13 episodes of The Universe.  I’ll let you look through and see what you think.  I’ll admit I haven’t watched them all.  Please remember that sometimes, there can be some rather controversial topics brought up on shows like this.  I always find it better to preview them just to see what I might be getting into.  I’ve been known to not show things that would be good for my kids to see just because there are a couple of items that might detract from the importance of the message due to the controversy around them.  There are other good videos available that don’t cause such a stir.

From the European Space Agency’s Herschel Space Observatory which carries the largest, most powerful infrared telescope to ever be flown in space come these awesome images.  Herschel’s job is provide an important and sometimes new look at the Universe.  The images are breathtaking and the site is easy to use.  You can move around the sky to find the squares.  Clicking on the square brings up the image along with information.  Great tool for the classroom.

With information about NASA’s Pluto-Kuiper Belt Mission, this site has many things to offer.  I’ve looked at part of it, but not all.  Looking under Education will give you things that are more useful in your classroom.  I tried to do an activity about counting dust, but it said I had to go to a link that apparently no longer exists.