Planet Kindergarten: 100 Days in Orbit by Sue Ganz-Schmitt

Star Log: Day 100. Base camp is lively. I greet my crewmates and admire their work. We have mastered many skills on our journey, but today brings a new milestone. There have been: 100 roll calls. 100 songs. 100 pledges. 100 challenging days full of exploration and triumph! Little ones will be over the moon as they celebrate school’s 100th Day with this clever, dynamically illustrated book, and eager to suit up for another daring adventure exploring and conquering Planet Kindergarten.

 

Planet Kindergarten: 100 Days in Orbit is apparently the second book in a series – and I would recommend picking up the first book before moving on to this title. I am assuming that the first book introduces the transition to kindergarten in a fun way by using space exploration as an analogy.  This second book continues where the first leaves off on day 100 where we follow a day in the life of the crewmates on their mission to explore Planet Kindergarten.

Keira and Ava, my 4 and 2 year old, are absolutely smitten with this book, especially with Keira off to Kindergarten for the first time next week.

The book starts off with a mission recap of skills learned on their journey but soon we move on to day 100 and that is where the magic begins. The crew experiences failures requiring them to come together as a team and support one another – from a crewmate feeling sick to the narrator spilling 100 aliens. Each time the crew work together to get through their issues making this an excellent allegory to teach new Kindergartners empathy towards their peers as well as to allay any fear about messing up around their peers.  It really is a wonderful story book.

There are a lot of “big words” in the book and science jargon but I think it does present an excellent opportunity to expand your child’s vocabulary and introduce advanced concepts such as gravity, galaxies, black holes and more. I think that assuming preschool aged children will be confused by this book would be a missed opportunity. Preschoolers understand a lot more than parents think, and they certainly have the capacity, for the most part, to grasp the basics of these concepts. Just be prepared ahead of time to explain these concepts at a level your child can understand.

(There is actually a really great Bubble Guppies episode about Outer Space which may be something you could watch together prior to reading this title.)

I love the illustrations too, they are quirky, detailed and full of expression.

Over all, this is a wonderful title for preschoolers, and I do intend on picking up a copy of the first book for the girls since they loved this title so much.

Elizabeth Lampman

Elizabeth Lampman is a coffee-fuelled Mom of 2 girls and lives in Hamilton, Ontario. She enjoys travelling, developing easy recipes, crafting, taking on diy projects, travelling and saving money!