Enjoy a tour of winter’s evening sky and then join jolly old Saint Nick and Mr. Freep as they explore the solar system’s planets and meet the Christmas Eve needs of their fictitious inhabitants.

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Additional Materials

OH State Science Standards for The Alien Who Stole Christmas

This planetarium show explores the relationship between Earth, Moon and Sun with the help of Coyote, an amusing character adapted from Native American oral traditions. Coyote has many misconceptions about our home planet and its most familiar neighbors. His confusion about the universe makes viewers think about how Earth, Moon and Sun work together as a system and learn to distinguish between myths and science.

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Learn the basics of fusion and solar energy and why the Sun rises and sets. Examine the Moon’s orbit, craters, phases and eclipses. You’ll even take a look at past and future space travel to our Moon … and beyond!

Dreams of flying, a model aircraft and a young girl and her grandfather come together in this multi-media planetarium show about the science of aeronautics. Learn about famous inventors and aviators of the past and the pioneers who first revealed the 4 forces of flight. See images of aircraft past, present and future and imagine where flight might take us.
 

Make your own FPG-9! Click the following link for instructions, a pdf downloadable template, and a video showing it being made: Academy of Model Aeronautics

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Additional Materials
Flight Adventures Educational Guide
DIY Paper Helicopter Template

Children's entertainer Fred Penner narrates and sings for this lively journey into his backyard, where we discover all sorts of things - colors of the rainbow, bugs and spiders, the different seasons, the planets, the Moon, and the stars in the nighttime sky.

The interaction in this program makes it suitable for young children; they are encouraged to call for Arnie, one of the major "characters," and to clap and sing.

Additional Materials
Backyard Coloring Sheet - Seasons
Backyard Coloring Sheet - Rainbow Fred
Backyard Coloring Sheet - Ladybugs
Coloring Sheet - The Solar System

Accompanied by narrators Aesop the owl and Socrates the mouse, we follow Orion's adventures as he grows to manhood, battles mythical beasts, foils the plot of an evil king and wins the heart of Artemis, the beautiful moon-goddess. By the end of the story, we learn how the constellation Orion was placed in the sky, forever turning overhead throughout the seasons.

Additional Materials
LNS Orion Coloring Sheet
LNS Orion Coloring Sheet - Canis Major & Canis Minor
LNS Orion Coloring Sheet - Orion Constellation
LNS Orion Coloring Sheet - Scorpius

Accompanied by narrators Aesop the owl and Socrates the mouse, we follow Perseus and Andromeda in a fun-filled retelling of the beautiful but unfortunate princess Andromeda, who in divine punishment for her mother’s bragging, is sacrificed to a sea monster—and rescued by the Greek hero Perseus.
 

A fantastic pre-show to a live constellation identification lecture!
 

Additional Materials
LNS Perseus & Andromeda Coloring Sheet
LNS Perseus & Andromeda Coloring Sheet - Cassiopeia
LNS Perseus & Andromeda Coloring Sheet - Pegasus
LNS Perseus & Andromeda Coloring Sheet - Perseus

A holiday music show celebrating the winter season. Artistic impressions of popular winter holiday music come to life on the dome transporting the entire family to a magical wonderland of music and light. Experience bells and reindeer, presents and cookies, snow and nutcrackers in colorful spectacles of fun!

A little star is born, and he's average. But there's nothing wrong with being average, as our little star discovers, especially if you want to have a planet with life!
 

The program looks at different sizes and colors of stars and our solar system; second grade teachers have enthusiastically endorsed it for meeting Ohio standards.
 

Additional Materials
Little Star Coloring Sheet - Little Star
Little Star Coloring Sheet - Little Star & Friends
Little Star Word Search

The Ward Beecher Planetarium’s spooky and spectacular annual Halloween spectacular has been going strong since 1974! Updated every year with new lights and visuals. Great for all ages, although younger visitors might be scared of the loud music and dark.
 

Night-LITE is our popular light and music extravaganza presented in a fun, non-scary style, making this show ideal for all ages.
 

NOTE: No live star and constellation identification lecture offered with this show.

Additional Materials
Nightlights Maze Activity
Nightlights Coloring Sheet 1
Nightlights Coloring Sheet 2
This is Halloween Coloring Sheet

Imagine the ultimate space vacation. Discover our solar system through a different set of eyes – a family from another star system seeking the perfect vacation spot. Fly over the surface of Pluto, our best known Dwarf Planet. Dive over the ice cliffs of Miranda.

Sail through the rings of Saturn. Feel the lightning storms at Jupiter. And walk on the surface of Mars. Which destination would you choose? This is the solar system journey for space travelers of all ages.

This is Our Sky is a general astronomy show that targets 3rd grade, with elements of interest spanning preschool to 4th grade. Join Luna and her friends for an exploration of the sky, seasons, moon phases, constellations, and planets.
 

Luna takes the audience on a tour of all the wonderful things about Earth, the moon, the planets, constellations, and more.
 

Additional Materials
TIOS Coloring Sheet - Luna
TIOS Coloring Sheet - Horizon
TIOS Coloring Sheet - Planets

It's a talk show with a twist: host Semour Sky has guest "stars" that really shine. Covers movement of Sun and Earth (and differences between them), seasonal constellations, star mythology. Students are the audience and read "cue cards" for instructions, so is somewhat interactive. The final song, "You're a Star," is a real self-esteem booster.
 

Additional Materials
SSS Coloring Sheet - Bears
SSS Coloring Sheet - Hera & Draco

Is the Earth round like a ball, or flat like a pancake? That's the topic for Space Shapes, a fantastic introduction to the planetarium for our youngest visitors.

It discusses, of course, the differences between flat and round in space.

Because the recorded portion is only 9 minutes long, the rest of the time is spent on hand-on activities, including a shape scavenger hunt in the planetarium, a solar system demo, and others, as time allows.

The recorded portion of the program is followed by a brief look at the stars, helping students to find some of the shapes we've learned about.
 

Additional Materials
Color-by-Shape Coloring Sheet
Solar System Coloring Sheet