Fun Friday: Eat Like an Astronaut

My class needed some motivation last year to make sure they had all their work done and behaved well during the week.  After a schedule change in March, we had a 30 minute block at the end of the day on Friday that was too short for a lesson, but too long to not do something productive.  We called it “Finish Up Friday.” Students with everything finished were rewarded with a fun project related to our 5^th grade standards.  Click on the tag “Fun Fridays” to see other ideas you might want to try.

 Eat Like an Astronaut

This was one of the favorite "Fun Friday" activities for us.  We have a Space unit in our Science standards and we had a set of stories in our Reading curriculum about astronauts. One of the stories was an interview with an astronaut about what it was like to be in space -- how do they eat, sleep, etc.  I thought it would be fun to experience a little taste of it ourselves!

Of course we had to have the freeze-dried ice cream.  I only got one package and we broke it into little pieces.   Each student got one small piece.

Astronauts ate dried fruit, too, so I brought in a bag of banana chips.  These are so yummy.  If you've never had them, they're worth a try!

Astronauts could also eat fruit leather. We used the kid-friendly version.  :)

We HAD to drink some Tang!  I couldn't believe they still make this stuff!  I drank so much Tang as a kid.  Apparently it was made popular by John Glen and other astronauts who drank it on their missions.  

Food in space has come a long way since the first manned missions. Our Reading curriculum story talked about how astronauts used to eat meals from a tube, but now they can eat foods packaged in a variety of methods.  I wanted my students to get to try eating a meal from a tube, so baby food aisle it was!  

Each student got a spoon and I squeezed a "taste" of the baby food onto it for them.  I had this Creamy Vegetables with Chicken, one with Red Beans and Rice, and one with Garden Vegetables and Turkey.  They got to choose which one to try.  This was hilarious as the baby food was not terribly appetizing to look at.  

(No one in my classroom ever HAS to eat anything.  It is their choice to try or not try.  We are also very careful about allergies as well.  Please make sure to check any food you serve for potential dangers prior to sharing with students!)

This was a GREAT activity that I will be repeating this year.  So much fun and so motivating for my students to get all their work done!

Got any other great ideas for Astronaut food that's available to the general public? I'd love to hear your ideas in the comments section!