With SpaceX ushering in a new era of space travel, many kids are firing up their dreams of becoming an astronaut. For much of the day, their minds fill with all the possibilities, inspiring them to ask a million questions a minute. How can a rocket booster land on its own? What types of planets are out there? Will people get to go to a new planet? If aliens exist, what would they look like? What would they eat?
Answering each question only provides a brief lull before the next set of inquiries comes speeding your way. Thankfully, getting a much longer break is easy. Just fly your kids to space with a rocket or alien cardboard cutout! By immersing them in the wonders of the universe, you can support their interests while getting a little bit of peace. Here’s how to make that happen.
“NASA astronaut Bob Behnken poses with a U.S. spacesuit” by NASA Johnson is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
“Beam Me Up, Scotty!” Fun at Home with Cardboard Cutouts
With cardboard cutouts on hand, kids don’t have to wait until their adult years to become an astronaut. They can realize their space dreams in the here and now, inspiring even more greatness down the road. Pretend play is also great for their imaginations and helps foster a lifelong love of all things science, technology, math, and engineering. Here’s a few ways to set your home up for STEM-learning fun.
Rocketship and Spaceship Standees
To make it into space in style, budding astronauts definitely need a futuristic rocketship to ride – and life-size cardboard cutout standees can help. Just upload your favorite spaceship design and put the face cutout right in the window. Don’t forget to have it made out of outdoor plastic, so they can take it outside and launch through every season. Once they get their life-size rocketship, your little explorers can hop right in and zoom up to space, while you get a few memorable photos out of the deal.
“Antares Rocket Test Launch (201304210006HQ)” by NASA HQ PHOTO is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Alien and UFO Cardboard Cutouts – and Big Heads, Too
Every space traveler needs a trusty crew to help them navigate to new planets and face off against whatever they find along the way. Beyond that, they likely expect to encounter aliens and all their UFOs on all their travels. Fortunately, Big Head cutouts give you a way to bring the space exploration journey to life for your kids.
Giant Cardboard Stars, Planets, and Space Rock Wall Decals
“Space – Antennae Galaxies” by Trodel is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
If you want to create a believable set for out of this world adventures, then you need to decorate your walls from floor to ceiling. Get started with a gorgeous custom wall mural of stars, galaxies, and even the surface of new planets.
Then, complete the scene by adding personalized wall decals, large cardboard stars, and other fun space cutouts. You can really get into it by brainstorming with your child on what a new planet might look like and have on it.
If you are ever at a loss on what to create for your kids’ space adventures, simply ask them for their input. Just be ready to get an earful as they tell you all about the planets, aliens, and UFOs they expect to encounter on all their explorations of the universe.
Other Ways to Use Outer Space Cardboard Cutouts
You don’t have to reserve the rocketships, space décor, and other elements you dream up for pretend play alone. It’s possible to use all your ideas in other creative ways, such as:
Kids’ Room Redesigns
Kids are truly happiest when their rooms reflect their interests and personality from end to end. The future astronauts of the world love to walk into outer space every time they waltz through their bedroom doors. It’s easy to make it happen with alien, UFO, and rocket cutout elements. But if you want to go all out, then only wall to wall murals will do, of course.
Nursery Room Theme
You can foster a love for space from day one by creating a nursery room covered in stars, planets, and faraway galaxies. As your little one gazes up in wonder, they will have endless things to explore, jumpstarting their lifetime of amazing adventures. Wall murals work best for this purpose, especially when paired with a few stars cutouts along the borders.
Classroom Décor
Classrooms are filled with possibilities and learning opportunities, so why not add adventures into outer space into the mix. By using wall murals, cardboard cutouts, and other décor to bring the universe indoors, you can light up all the students’ imaginations and inspire their sense of wonder. You can even go low key by only rolling out cardboard cutouts for certain lessons, then storing them away until the next time they’re needed.
Halloween Decorations
Cardboard alien invasions are the perfect way to get everyone in a spooky mood for Halloween. You can use the decals, wall murals, and cardboard cutouts to create a space-inspired haunted house indoors. Or cover your front lawn in aliens and UFOs or simply transform it into a whole new planet using life-sized outdoor plastic cutouts instead.
Birthday Parties
If your child loves space, make every birthday party a blast with a space or alien party theme. Use wall murals to set the scene, then put a rocket ship cutout centerstage and surround it by cardboard cutouts of stars, aliens, and UFOs galore. You can even go for cardboard cutouts with face hole alien style for photo ops to remember.
“NASA JSC Space Center, Houston: SATURN-V Moon rocket” by Traveller-Reini is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
With all these ideas on hand, you can repurpose your space cardboard cutouts long after your kids grow bored with their astronaut adventures. If you go the party route, you can even use the cutouts for a variety of awesome themes to best suit all the kids in your life.
Alien Party Theme Ideas
If your kid has their heart set on an alien party with friends and family, there’s no one right way to do it. In fact, you can approach it in a number of different ways to best suit their personality. Here’s some ideas to help you get started.
Glow in the Dark
Glow in the dark parties are all the rage and if they’re space themed, then all the better. All it takes is decorations in neon colors, a few blacklights, and glow sticks of all kinds. You can even find glow in the dark cups, plates, and napkins to bring everything together. Don’t forget the giant cardboard stars in bright neon hues plus a spaceship cutout in your child’s favorite colors.
Monochrome
Space works well with monochrome color schemes, which allows all the awesome shapes and textures to stand out. For a little pizzazz, skip the gray in favor of silver, and then bring on copious amounts of white and black tones. Get all your giant cardboard stars in silver, for example, which allows you to reuse them again and again for future parties.
Retro Rockets
If all your child can talk about is the first man on the moon, then only a retro rocket party will do. Bring on the old school spaceship cutouts and larger than life astronauts to make this dream a reality. You could even set up life-sized cutouts of Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins in their full spacesuit getups to make a huge impression.
Space Invaders
Although it’s a true relic of the past, everyone has a soft spot for the original Space Invaders. The tiny blocky aliens work well as cardboard cutouts, cupcake toppers, and whatever else you can dream up. You might want to bring the rocketship into the modern era by having your child point out their favorite design. Then, set up a cutout of it near the cake table and watch everyone swing by for a photograph with it.
“space invader” by theyuped is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
Monsters and. Aliens
What goes better with aliens than a bunch of cute little monsters complete with antennas? Nothing, that’s what. And with this theme, you get to use your imagination to the fullest in deciding just what each alien and monster will look like. With that done, you can order decals and cardboard cutouts of those little critters to spice up the party room. If you want to go larger than life, you could even get a wall mural featuring all your monsters and aliens against a backdrop of outer space.
No matter which of these space alien party ideas you choose, your child and all their guests are sure to have a fantastic time. Many of the parents of the other kids will likely want to pick your brain on how you threw it all together so well.
Kids Love Space-Themed Cardboard Cutouts
With cardboard cutouts on their side, kids can go on the wildest adventures into outer space. You are even able to get in on the fun by creating all the scenery, spaceships, and alien cardboard cutouts they need. Don’t forget to pop in the spaceship cutout for a picture of your own to add to the photo album of all their adventures.
