Is your child obsessed with space travel or aliens? If so I have a great collection of space books for kids to share with you today. These are the books that I consider the best space books. They’re a mixture of fact and fiction space books. This list includes space books for preschoolers and older children as well as great space books for toddlers. Find all the best children’s books here.
Some of these books have been sent to us by publishers to review, I’ve marked these with a *. So read on if you are looking for children’s books about space, I’m sure you’ll find the perfect space book for your child.
Ad – This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. If you purchase through the links I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Make & play space, Joey Chou *
This is a gorgeous board book that contains 20 pop out play figures made from sturdy cardboard. Perfect for young children to make up their own space scenes and stories. Something my girls love to do. As well as the play figures there are also several space songs, crafts, games and even snacks to enjoy. You can plan and enjoy a space-themed play session with the aid of this book. I plan to do some of these activities with my girls this summer. I think they will love making and launching rockets in the garden. As well as baking astroid cakes and singing space songs.
Suzy orbit, astronaut; Ruth Quayle, Jez Tuya *
As a mother of two girls, I love books that promote STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) & especially females in STEM roles. In this book, Suzy is an engineer working on a space station on the moon. When they get world from Earth of a possible alien invasion, her boss asks if they have a space pod. They don’t so Suzy volunteers to make one. Captain Gizmo, however, doubts her abilities and chooses to order one but when it arrives they don’t have the right batteries (we’ve all been there!). As the story goes on the scenario repeats with various other devices. In the end, though Captain Gizmo has to concede and let Suzy build a meteoric blaster to save the earth. You’ve probably guessed by now, Suzy’s is so good that they never need to order anything again. Both my girls love this book. The illustrations are cute and colourful. This is a great book for boys and girls alike.
Why not make your own planets after reading this book? Find out how here – paper plate planets
You may also like to try this Astronaut Toilet Paper Roll Craft.
These space activity pages are great for kids with an interest in space.
How to be an astronaut and other space jobs, Dr Sheila Kanani & Sol Linero
This is a great non-fiction space book for kids. I love the cute, simple and colourful illustrations throughout the book as well as the addition of stickers and a pop out rocket at the back of the book. This book is packed full of space facts that are presented in a way that is perfect for dipping in and out of with kids. Perhaps one day you’ll learn about the solar system and another day you’ll read about how to become an astronaut and the training they do. My 6 year old loves reading a few pages of this book every so often. It’s a beautiful book that is not only engaging for kids but beautiful to look at all the illustrations. A great addition to the bookshelf of any space lover.
The cow that fell to earth, Nadia Shireen
This is another fantastic space-themed fiction book. My children absolutely adore this funny story about a cow that falls to earth. The other animals try to work out where the cow came from. This takes some time as they don’t understand each other but once they realise she is a moon cow they try to get her back home. This is a silly book that young children will adore. The illustrations are cute, colourful and bold.
This mars sensory bin pairs really well with this picture book.
Look up! Nathan Bryon and Dapo Adeola
This book is a lovely mix of fiction and fact. Rocket is a little girl who dreams of becoming an astronaut. She is obsessed with space and when she discovers a meteoroid shower will be visible from the local park she sets about promoting it to her local community. Can she get her brother Jamal to look up from his phone for it though? The fact element comes in with lots of speech bubbles “Did you know” where rocket tells her brother all sorts of space facts. My kids love Rocket and I think her love of space is rubbing off on them. A lovely book celebrating the wonder of the world around up.
My alien and me, Who’s the alien around here anyway? Smriti Prasadam-Halls & Tom McLaughlin
My children love that this book is a little different as the “alien” in this book is actually a little boy. It turns the usual alien story on its head. A little green alien discovers a little boy (his “alien”) who is stranded whilst his spaceship is repaired. The brightly coloured illustrated pages bring this story to life. I love how it teaches children not to judge others as they might have more in common than they think.
Night-time around the word: Moon, Britta Teckentrup
We love this book so much, along with the other books by Britta Teckentrup. It has the right mix of beautiful illustrations with the addition of peep through cut out elements, gentle rhyming text and nature facts. We learn about a diverse range of animals around the world and their night-time activities. Everything from turtles coming to shore to lay their eggs to the Northern lights is covered. The illustrations are stunning and each page includes cut-out moon shape which as the book progresses, the moon changes shape showing children the full Lunar cycle. A truly beautiful book.
Busy people – Astronaut, Ando Twin and Lucy M George
We bought this book some time as part of a collection of Busy people books. In this book, we follow an astronaut through her day learning all about what astronauts do. The book has a funny side two as the space station has a robot which is broken and instead of tidying up it is messing up the place. My girls love this part of the story as I’m sure you can imagine. The book finishes by teaching us about the things astronauts need and the people they work with.
Goodnight spaceman, Michelle Robinson, Nick East
In this book, two little boys are getting ready for bed, looking at the stars and imagining they are spacemen that are off to space to meet up with their dad, an astronaut. We love the cute and colourful illustrations and the rhythm of the word make it a joy to read. Clearly inspired by the story of Tim Peaks, the ESA astronaut and his two young boys. This book is bound to capture the imagination of your child.
The Space craft book, Laura Minter & Tia Williams
This is a great book for crafty kids. Packed full of space-themed crafts to try at home. There are a mixture of things for kids to make (with some help depending on their age) and some for grown-ups to make for kids. There are also ideas for a space-themed party including food and a moon cake. I reviewed this book a little while ago if you want to find out more about it.
Pin for later:
Where to next?
Find some fantastic Weather activities for preschool here.
Find some Nature activities for kids here.