Dun, dun, duh-duh-duh-DUN dun! It’s STAR WARS DAY! May the Fourth be with you as you celebrate with a new Star Wars Quest!
For this Quest you will need:
- All printable worksheets (see below)
- Pencils
- Construction paper
- Scissors
- Tape and/or glue sticks
- Paper towel rolls (one per person)
- Slip-cover dice (or Dollar Store dice, see below)
- Tape measurer
- Cardboard
- Coins (pennies, nickels, quarters)
- 1 can crescent rolls (like Pillsbury)
- 1 cup melted butter
- 1 cup cinnamon sugar
- Muffin pan (mini or normal)
- Ice/ice cube tray (see #1)
- Salt and/or baking soda and/or sugar (see #1)
Pre-Quest Prep:
The home-educator should read through the Quest in advance, to be sure he or she has everything necessary and to-hand. Print off all necessary worksheets, one per student, and prepare them as required.
Special directions: The night before the Quest, freeze as many Star Wars characters as you can, or Lego figures of any sort, in ice cube trays.
Print out the list of activities below. Cut them apart into strips and place #9-2 in a jar so the kids can randomly pick the activity they’ll do next. Tape the heading, #10, #1, and #0 onto a black piece of paper, leaving space in between to tape the other numbers. These activities need to be done at the beginning (#10) and at the end (#1 and #0), but all the other activities can be done in any order. Simply tape the activity strip the kids have drawn onto the paper in order to be sure you’ve done them all before blasting off!
Or, for an alternate set-up: if you have them, set out the corresponding Star Wars character toy along with the activity (not the ones that are frozen in carbonite, of course ;)) around the room. Kids can complete the activities in any order.
In this Quest, kids will learn: basic math, reading, writing, grid reading, measurement, graphing, baking chemistry, scientific method, science, following directions, cooperation, and art.
Quest
10. Every Jedi’s training begins by constructing a lightsaber!
Grab the paper towel rolls, construction paper, and tape. Wrap the construction paper in the color of your choice around the paper towel rolls leaving just enough at the bottom to represent a handle. Tape it to keep it on.
Let the games begin!
9. Luke: Match each lightsaber to the correct person.
Complete the lightsaber sort worksheet. There’s one for simple addition practice, and one for your more advanced math learner. To use either one, simply save and print the images below!
8. R2-D2: Work together to decode the message from Princess Leia.
Find the codes and decoder at rockyourhomeschool.net. If you have more than two kids, have them pair off to decode: one can call out the number and write the answer, and one can read the decoder to provide the answer. Have them take turns as it’s super fun to do both parts!
7. Han Solo: Han thinks he has the best ship in the galaxy: the Millenium Falcon. Make your own paper airplanes and see who can get theirs to go the farthest!
Making paper airplanes is super fun and super simple. I got this idea here at https://royalbaloo.com/star-wars-paper-airplane-comparison/, where she also included some very helpful videos on how to make planes that actually look like ships from Star Wars! Use a tape measurer to measure the distance your plane flies to determine which one went the farthest.
6. C-3PO: Help C-3PO track how many times he’s crossed paths with each of these people while trying to escape from the Empire.
Save and print the graphing worksheet and dice faces. Cut out the dice faces and slip them into a slip-cover dice. If you don’t have one (a great investment), you can find large dice at the Dollar Store and simply tape the images onto each face. Then have your kids roll the dice and mark on their graphs how many times they rolled each face.
Discuss the different things your graph can show you at a glance. For example:
- How many more times did you roll Leia than Han?
- Which did you roll the most? Least?
- For your older kids: work out the mean, median, and mode.
5. Chewbacca: The Millenium Falcon is spinning out of control! Help Chewie get it leveled (after having some fun spinning, of course)!
I got this idea from https://teachbesideme.com/stem-toy-penny-spinners/ but added a Star Wars spin to it! Save and print the shadows below. Cut out the circle around the Millenium Falcon shadow. Glue onto a thick piece of cardboard. Cut around the circle again. Now, thrust your scissors into the very middle to make a hole just large enough for a penny. Place the penny into the middle so it pokes out both sides. Spin to your heart’s content! Which size ship works best? Does changing the coin to a quarter or nickel affect how well it spins? What about the thickness of the cardboard?
4. Darth Vader: Reassemble the destroyed portraits.
This activity was found at rockyourhomeschool.net. It’s actually a “copy this drawing” grid activity, but I found it was even more fun to cut them up and have the kids line the pictures up again following the grid locations on the back of each square (which is always a good skill to practice!). To prep: print each grid image, as well as multiple copies of the blank grid, enough for each character. Then write the corresponding grid locations on the back of the images before you cut them into small squares. Give each kid an image, a blank grid, and a glue stick for them to reassemble their portrait. I especially loved the practice this provided for my kindergartener who sometimes still struggles with “b” vs “d”.
3. Yoda: Time to practice your Jedi moves! Play “Yoda Says” and be sure to follow your master closely!
Grab your lightsaber and play a version of “Simon Says” with each person taking a turn playing Yoda and getting to call out the next move. Have extra fun with it by adding in some Star Wars references like:
- zoom like a tie fighter
- spin like the Millenium Falcon
- swing your lightsaber to the right/to the left
- walk like C-3PO
- march like a stormtrooper
- breathe like Darth Vader
2. Princess Leia: Make Leia cinnamon roll buns!
Open your crescent roll container and separate the rolls. Cut them into strips, talking about the terms half, third, and quarter with your kids as you do so. Measure one cup melted butter and one cup cinnamon sugar (1 cup sugar + about 2 Tbs cinnamon). Dip each strip in butter, then cinnamon sugar, then wrap into a bun shape in a muffin tin. Bake at 350 for 15-20 min. until cooked through.
1. Rescue each character from carbonite before you blast off!
Before the Quest, I told you to freeze as many Star Wars characters as you have, or Lego figures of any sort, in ice cube trays. Pull those characters out now. Ask the kids to think like scientists: How can they free the characters the quickest? There are so many right answers! See what they come up with. Do they run the ice cube under hot water? Rub it between their hands? Throw baking soda on it? Salt? Sugar? Which way worked best?
0. Blast OFF!
We hope you had a ton of fun on this special Star Wars Day Quest! Be sure to check out our Star Wars Quest from last year, if you haven’t done so already!
May the Fourth be with you! Happy Questing!
Special thanks to Beth Rizzo for the amazing Star Wars drawings!
