Are your kids interested in space? I have always been fascinated by space travel, and Little Bookworm is excited about all things STEM. So we were thrilled to check out this new children’s book about a girl astronaut, and her mission to build a rocket and head to space. Check out the fun space activities for kids that we paired with it too!

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Sadie Sprocket Builds a Rocket was written by Sue Fliess and illustrated by Annabel Tempest. This book follows a young girl named Sadie who dreams of traveling to Mars. She spends her days reading about space and drawing up plans. With the help of her animal friends, she trains, prepares, and builds her own rocket. They blast off for an adventure on Mars, and have to work together to get home again. The rhyming text highlights Sadie’s determination and her problem solving skills. Readers will be drawn in by the adorable illustrations that feature Sadie and her cute animal friends making their way into space.

Space Activities for Kids

Astronaut Testing

In the book, Sadie trains her animal friends to make sure that they are strong enough and smart enough to make the trip into space. This part of the story immediately intrigued Little Bookworm who decided to test her own stuffed animals. First, we decided on what kind of tests she would need them to perform. We set up centers around her room to test them in math, strength, and creativity. She had a ball pretending to run tests on them, and performing the tests herself. Along the way, she practiced her own strength and balance, and a few math problems.

Check out these dramatic play printables for more creative fun!

Planet Map

As Sadie is preparing for future space travel, she creates maps of the planets to hang on her walls. We decided to create some maps of our own. To start, we used an old paintbrush and white paint to create a wall of stars on a black piece of construction paper.

Next, we practiced our cutting skills by cutting out small circles in different colors. We glued the circles onto the black paper to create our planets. Once the glue dried, we used a piece of chalk to draw a path between the planets, just like Sadie did in the book.

Related Post: Space Books for Kids

Building a Rocket

This book provided the perfect opportunity to build a rocket of our own. First we gathered items that we would need on a trip to space. Next, we built a rocket out of materials around the house. When the rocket was completed, we got inside and pretended to blast off. We played in the rocket and wrote in our space journals.

Printable Space Journal

To work on our creative writing, I created this printable space journal for kids. I printed a few of the pages and we brought them with us into our rocket. We imagined what life would be like on the long rocket trip to Mars, and wrote down our thoughts and observations.

Check out this printable space tracing book for kids learning to write!

Blast Off Artwork

We were inspired by the beautiful artwork when Sadie and her rocket blasted off. So we decided to create some of our own. First, we dropped some paint in one corner of a piece of paper. Next, we used straws to blow the paint towards the other parts of the page.

We sprinkled some glitter over the paint as well. Once the paint had dried, we drew swirling patterns over the paint, and glued a rocket shape in the corner where we started with the dropped paint.

Do you have any favorite space books for kids? Will you be adding this children’s book about a girl astronaut to your library?

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