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Recently in my college course for Science for Elementary Students. We did a project where were to bring in a alien from another planet, and talk about him in a way to inform the class about the specific characteristics of that planet. I thought this was a really fun and clever idea, but I think it would be a little difficult for first and second graders to do. Are there any good take home project for younger kids, that will still give them the same effect and learn the same material?

You might want to give the students a variety of art and recycle materials and have them create an alien. Then they could tell the class about their "friend".

Hi Mary, When my youngest son was in second grade, the teacher had a paper puppet that she had the kids sign up to take home for two weeks at a time. During the two weeks, students would send the puppet to a relative or friend in another state who would take a picture of the puppet at different landmarks or famous sites near them. The traveled puppet would return and the student would share where the puppet had been before passing it on to the next child. A class puppet diary was also kept and passed around. It was amazing to see just how much of the country the little puppet got to see over the course of the year AND the kids learned a lot about other parts of the country. Carolyn