Looking for an art project that is a total BLAST?! Creating spectacular shape rockets is an awesome way to reinforce important math and science concepts.
Kids’ excitement is so contagious you’ll want to create with them all day. Become a VIP Plato Pack member so you can get all of the tools, strategies and support you need to reach ALL of your learners.
Getting Ready
To get ready, I gathered supplies for each student:
- One 12 x 18-inch piece of blue construction paper for the background sky
- One 4 x 4-inch piece of white paper for the nose of the spaceship
- One 4 x 8-inch piece of red paper for the nose of the spaceship
- One 3 x 4-inch piece of brown paper for the engine of the spaceship
- One 3 x 3-inch piece of yellow and one 3 x 3-inch orange construction paper for the flames
- One 3 x 3-inch piece of white paper for the window of the spaceship
- Medium round paint brush
- White tempera paint
- Scissors to cut out the rocket shapes and flames
- Glue for attaching the rocket to the background sky paper
- Spray bottle for stars
- Sequins for “razzle dazzle”
The Background
First, I mixed 3/4 white tempera paint and 1/4 water in a spray bottle.
I had each child lightly spray the 12-inch x 18-inch blue construction paper with the paint mixture.
It was an easy way to create some small stars against a nighttime sky.
While the paper was drying, we worked on creating the spaceships.
The Shape Rocket
We glued a red rectangle down on the background paper to make the body of our rocket.
I suggested students glue it down on a diagonal to look like the spaceship was blasting off into space.
Then, I gave each student a pair of scissors to cut a triangle-shaped nose from a white piece of construction paper and had them glue it to the paper.
Once the nose top was completed, we moved on to the engine.
Students cut a trapezoid shape out of brown paper and glued it down at the bottom of the rectangle.
To cut out a round shape for the window, I had students find a circle shape in the classroom to use as a stencil.
After tracing it onto their white construction paper, kids cut and glued it to their artwork.
Then it was time to add some flames to the engine!
Students cut medium-sized triangles out of yellow and orange construction paper.
They carefully glued them down, purposefully overlapping the yellow and orange triangles to make them look more authentic.
I suggested using the white paint and adding simple lines for designs on the spaceship.
Then, students could choose to top off the spaceship with metallic sequins for extra visual interest.
Kids had a BLAST creating these fun shape rockets and I loved that these spaceships reinforced geometric shapes.
More Inspiration
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