Read books about astronauts, such as "I Want to Be An Astronaut" by Byron Barton or "Astronaut Handbook" by Meghan McCarthy. Invite kindergartners to attend training camp to get in shape. Have kindergartners do exercises astronauts do, such as squats, heel raises, arm curls and running.
Allow kindergartners to leap around the room like they are walking on the moon. Head to the gym and do spins, somersaults and cartwheels like astronauts can do in zero gravity.
Ask kindergartners what they think astronauts need to learn before going into space. Help kindergartners master a few basic astronaut facts of their own. Practice counting backward from 10 to zero for a space shuttle launch.
Make a control panel on a trifold poster board using construction paper buttons of different colors and shapes. Invite kindergartners to pilot the space shuttle and conduct a systems check by pressing the green circle to power rocket boosters, pushing the red square to blast off and checking the weather temperature written on the yellow rectangle.
Make a model solar system out of Styrofoam spheres and label the planets. Practice reading the names of the planets each day.
Invite kindergartners to make astronaut suits out of recycled materials. Use cereal boxes to make rocket packs, with plastic cups for boosters and rope to make arm loops. Tape two 2-liter bottles together and add arm loops to make oxygen packs to wear. Paint shoe boxes white, tape down the lids then cut foot holes in the top to make moon boots to wear. Make a helmet out of a double paper bag with a face cutout or a gallon milk jug with the top, handle and one side cut out.
Take pictures of kindergartners and encourage students to use their photos in astronaut-themed art projects. Students can glue their pictures to a piece of paper and paint themselves wearing a space suit. Have students use oil pastels on black paper to draw a space shuttle blasting into space, complete with their headshots looking out the window.
Another idea is to cut shapes out of magazines to make a space shuttle control panel collage where students are the astronaut piloting a rocket into space.