Celebrate Space Exploration Day with these classroom activities

What is Space Exploration Day?

Every year on July 20, Space Exploration Day marks the anniversary of one of humanity’s greatest achievements: the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969. It’s a day to celebrate the advances in space science and exploration throughout history, and to inspire the next generation of scientists, engineers, and dreamers.

For elementary teachers, Space Exploration Day is a golden opportunity to spark curiosity across the curriculum. Space naturally lends itself to science, but it also opens doors to literacy, math, art, music, and social studies. What student isn’t fascinated by rockets, planets, and the question of whether aliens exist?

Whether you go all-in with a full day of space-themed learning or weave a few activities into your regular schedule, there’s something here for every classroom. The activities below draw on ClickView’s Space Exploration Day topic resources to make planning easier and keep students engaged with high-quality video content.

10 Space Exploration Day classroom activities

1) Explore the first moon landing and the space race

This is the story behind the day itself, and it’s a great place to start. Before diving into hands-on activities, give your students the historical context that makes Space Exploration Day meaningful.

Begin by watching The First Moon Landing together as a class. This short video is suited to grades two through five and gives a clear overview of the Apollo 11 mission.

From there, you can extend the learning by exploring the broader context of the Space Race and Race to the Moon. These videos help students understand why the moon landing mattered so much — it wasn’t just a scientific achievement, it was the culmination of a decades-long competition between nations.

• After watching, ask students to discuss: Why do they think countries were racing to get to space? What would it have felt like to watch the moon landing on TV in 1969?
• Have students create a timeline of key events in the space race, from the launch of Sputnik to the Apollo 11 landing.
• For a deeper dive into the people behind the mission, watch Neil Armstrong and discuss what qualities made him and his fellow astronauts suited to such a dangerous mission.
• Compare the Apollo 11 Mission with the recent Artemis II mission, how have technologies changed since 1969?

This is also a chance to introduce students to trailblazers who are sometimes left out of the traditional space narrative. Ellen Ochoa: The First Female Hispanic Astronaut is a fantastic resource for showing students that space exploration includes people from all backgrounds.

2) Launch a space-themed inquiry activity

What do astronauts actually do all day? How do they eat, sleep, and get back to Earth? These are the kinds of questions that drive genuine curiosity, and they make excellent starting points for an inquiry-based lesson.

Use videos like What Do Astronauts Do?, How Do Astronauts Get Home?, and How Do You Stay Alive in Space? to get the conversation started.

• Have students brainstorm a list of questions they have about life in space before watching the videos.
• After watching, ask them to sort their questions into categories: answered, partially answered, and still unanswered.
• For the unanswered questions, guide students through a short research task using age-appropriate resources. They can present their findings to a partner or small group.

This activity builds critical thinking and research skills while tapping into something students are naturally curious about. It also pairs well with a viewing of A Tour of the International Space Station, which gives students a vivid look at where astronauts live and work.

3) Design and build a rocket

Few activities get elementary students as excited as building something with their hands — and a rocket-building challenge is hard to beat.

Start by watching The Rocket, which explores the evolution of rocket design. Then, watch Let’s Build Paper Rockets for a practical, follow-along building activity suited to all elementary grade levels.

• Divide students into small groups and assign roles: a leader, a designer, an engineer, and a spokesperson.
• Give each group basic materials (paper, tape, straws, cardboard tubes) and challenge them to design and build a rocket that flies the farthest or the highest.
• Pause partway through the design process to let each group’s spokesperson share their progress. This is a natural checkpoint for you to ask guiding questions and for groups to learn from each other.
• Once rockets are built, test them and have the class observe what worked and what didn’t. Ask: What design features seemed to make a difference?

This activity develops teamwork, communication, and creative problem-solving — all while connecting back to real-world engineering.

4) Conduct space-themed experiments

Hands-on science experiments bring abstract concepts down to earth (literally). The source material offers several experiment-focused videos that pair well with classroom activities for grades three through five.

• Air resistance experiment: Watch Astronaut Experiment (Air Resistance) and have students explore how air resistance affects falling objects. They can test different shapes and materials to see which falls fastest and discuss why this matters for spacecraft re-entry.
• Rocket science: Use the Rockets video from the Experimentary series to introduce the science behind propulsion, then run a simple balloon rocket experiment.
• Crater investigation: Watch Crater Maker and set up a hands-on crater-making activity. Drop objects of different sizes and weights into a tray of flour or sand to observe how craters form, and compare results to real lunar craters.

Each experiment works well as a standalone activity or as part of a full Space Exploration Day rotation.

5) Build a solar system model

Modeling the solar system helps students grasp scale, order, and the relationships between planets — concepts that are tricky to appreciate from a textbook alone.

Watch Let’s Make the Solar System for a guided activity, and follow up with Make a Moon Puzzle for students who want to dig deeper into the moon’s features.

• Provide craft supplies (clay, styrofoam balls, paint) and have students work in pairs to build a scale model of the solar system.
• As they build, ask them to research one fact about each planet to share with the class.
• Display the finished models in the classroom or hallway as a Space Exploration Day showcase.

For additional context on gravity and orbits, pair this activity with Over (to) the Moon and Everything Revolves around You from the Crash Course Kids series.

6) Write a space-themed story

Space Exploration Day isn’t just for science class — it’s a wonderful prompt for creative writing too. Blending literacy with science helps students process what they’ve learned while practicing narrative skills.

Start by watching Let’s Explore Space a Vooks rhyming storybook that shows students how space themes come to life in fiction.

• Ask students to write their own short story set in space. They could write from the perspective of an astronaut, an alien, or even a planet.
• Younger students (grades K through two) can draw a picture and write a few sentences. Older students (grades three through five) can write a full narrative with a beginning, middle, and end.
• Encourage students to include at least one real fact about space in their story — this pushes them to blend creativity with accuracy.
• Share stories aloud or create a class “Space Stories” book for the school library.

7) Create a space podcast

Here’s a creative twist that builds speaking, research, and collaboration skills all at once. Inspired by the famous War of the Worlds radio broadcast of 1938, students can create their own space-themed podcast episodes.

• Watch the War of the Worlds video together and discuss how powerful audio storytelling was — and still is. How did people react to something they heard on the radio? What does that tell us about the power of media?
• Have students work in small groups to plan a three-to-five-minute podcast episode about a space topic of their choice: a planet, a famous astronaut, a space mission, or even a fictional space adventure.
• Watch the Create Your Own Podcast Interview with an Alien video to learn how to create a podcast using Garageband.
• Groups should write a script, rehearse, and record their episode using a tablet or computer.
• Play the finished podcasts for the class, or share them with families as a Space Exploration Day celebration.

This activity pairs naturally with media literacy discussions and works well for grades three through five.

8) Design a space suit

Art, design, and engineering come together in this activity, which challenges students to think about what astronauts need to survive in space — and then create their own suit design.

Begin with The A7L Space Suit, a short video about the suit Neil Armstrong wore on the moon.

• After watching, discuss: What problems does a space suit need to solve? (Temperature, oxygen, pressure, mobility.)
• Have students sketch their own space suit design, labeling the key features and explaining why each one is included.
• For an extension, older students can research how space suit design has evolved since 1969 and present their findings alongside their own designs.

This works well as a standalone art and STEM activity, or as one station in a Space Exploration Day rotation.

9) Research famous astronomers

Space exploration didn’t start with rockets — it started with people looking up and asking questions. This activity connects students to the long history of astronomical discovery.

Watch Famous Astronomers for a quick overview, and for a more in-depth look, explore Famous Astronomers and Astrophysicists: From Galileo to Neil deGrasse Tyson.

• Assign each student (or pair of students) a famous astronomer or astrophysicist to research.
• Have them create a short presentation or poster that covers: who the person is, when they lived, what they discovered, and why it matters today.
• For connections to NASA’s history, include Katherine Johnson and NASA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration as additional viewing.
• Allow time for students to present their findings, and consider inviting another class to watch to give the work a real audience.

10) Write and perform a sun song

End the day on a high note (literally) with a music and science crossover. The sun is the center of our solar system, and learning about it through song makes the facts stick.

Start with The Sun and The Sun in Space to build students’ knowledge. Then, watch The Sun Song as inspiration.

• Have students work with a partner to write their own song or rap about the sun, using at least five facts from the videos they watched.
• Provide a simple backing track or clapping rhythm to help students connect their lyrics to a beat.
• Allow time for performances — this is a memorable way to wrap up Space Exploration Day and it builds confidence in public speaking.

For younger students, singing along to the Planet Song or Our Solar System from Curriculum Karaoke is a joyful, low-prep alternative.

Tips for ongoing space exploration in the classroom

Space Exploration Day doesn’t have to be a one-off event. The curiosity it sparks can carry through the rest of the school year if you build on it. Here are a few ways to keep the momentum going:

You can weave space into your regular curriculum by connecting it to topics students are already learning. Fractions become more interesting when you’re calculating how far away the moon is. Persuasive writing takes on a new dimension when students argue for which planet NASA should explore next.

Use ClickView’s Space Exploration Day topic page as a go-to hub for videos you can revisit throughout the year. Series like SciShow Kids: Solar System and Space, Let’s Discover: Space, and Crash Course Kids: Introduction to Stars have plenty of episodes to draw from across the year.

You might also explore how space connects to everyday life. 5 Facts about Solar Power and Artificial Satellites are great starting points for showing students that space exploration isn’t just about what happens up there — it shapes technology, weather forecasting, and healthcare right here on Earth.

However you choose to mark the day, the most important thing is giving students the chance to ask big questions, get their hands dirty, and see themselves as part of the story of exploration.

Sources

1. NASA. “Space Exploration Day.” NASA, https://www.nasa.gov.
2. National Air and Space Museum. “Apollo 11.” Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, https://airandspace.si.edu/explore/stories/apollo-11.