Out of this World Books for your Astronomy Unit!
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We are just at the beginning of our astronomy and space unit! The kids have been looking forward to this unit for months! I have spent so much time collecting resources, books, supplies, and organizing activities and I can’t wait to share it all with you!! I am hoping to have lots of posts with ideas for books, projects, and supplies! This post is going to be ALL about the amazing out of this world books to add to your unit! As you well know by now, all of our units are super book heavy…we just can’t get enough! So, let’s get to it!
Out of this World Space Books
Narrowing down this list was nearly impossible…but I limited myself to just sharing my top 6…and I didn’t even include my very favorite books from Usborne Books & More…which could fill an entire blog post in itself…actually…it probably will! Anyway…on with it!
1.) Planetarium
This book is a stunner. If you are a fan of Botanicum or Animalium…this is the newest installment from Big Picture Press. It is just gorgeous and so packed full of information. I can’t recommend these books enough. Awesome resources to use again and again.
2.) Seeing Stars: A Complete Guide to the 88 Constellations
If you plan to cover constellations YOU.NEED.THIS.BOOK. I have only had this book for 3 days and it is incredible. Not all books will contain all 88 constellations, but this one does. Not only does it show you the constellations but it also explains to you how they came to be named, the brightest star in the constellation, and where and when to see it. I think my favorite thing about this book (aside from the fact that it smells fab) is that it breaks the constellations down into the “ancient” constellations and the more modern ones. So well organized and just gorgeous.
3.) A Child’s Introduction to the Night Sky
I have had this book forever and have only recently opened it. It is incredible. I loved the way it was organized so much that I planned much of our unit based on this book. It is so beautiful but it also explains things in such an easy way that it is easy for kids to understand! It also comes with glow in the dark star stickers and a cool star finder! This has quickly become one of my favorite series of books. You can plan complete units from them…easily!
4.) What We See in the Stars
This one can best be described as Gor-Geous. It is such a wonderful combination of science and myth. It is packed with so much goodness. I ordered this one before even seeing it in person because I had a feeling it would be a keeper and it absolutely IS!
5.) G is for Galaxy: An Out of this World Alphabet
No Homeschool by the Beach unit would be complete without an alphabet book from Sleeping Bear Press. These are my go-to books for creating homeschool units. I wrote about my obsession with them here. G is for Galaxy is another home run. It is packed with information and in usual alphabet book fashion has gorgeous illustrations and tons of facts! S is for Saturn, T is for Telescope, and J is for Jupiter are just a few of the pages you will find. Absolutely awesome book!
6.) Star Stories: Constellation Tales from Around the World
I literally just got this book this week! I was supposed to have it yesterday on it’s release day but my friends at Amazon were a little late getting it here…not pleased my friends! Anyway, it was worth the wait. This book is GORGEOUS! Star Stories is FULL of the tales and mythology surrounding the constellations. You will read about stories from Ancient Greece, China, India, North America, Egypt, and the South Pacific. We are starting this book this afternoon. I read the first few stories and it is awesome. The illustrations are SO lovely and the stories are ones both you and your kiddos will love!
As I mentioned above, this is just the tip of the iceberg of awesome books. I have created an Amazon list with several more…and if you love Usborne Books & More…I am hoping to get a list up with those amazing books as well!
To view my Amazon list click here.
2 Comments
Christine
Thank you for this great list of books and the “Seeing Stars” in particular sounds amazing! We just got a telescope for mainly my son and he loves hunting down and knowing the names of the different constellations.
home-admin
Oh you are so welcome!! We absolutely adored Seeing Stars!! I think you guys will love it!! 🙂