Space simulators are not for everyone. This axiom does not depend on genre, release year, graphics or ease of control. The fact is that gamers treat game projects about space with some distrust and do not want to spend their time flying in outer space. Just look at the most popular games, whether it's online player ratings or digital copy sales, and you won't notice space sims there. We do not take into account Star Citizen, because this game is above all laws, rules and regulations.

The most popular games today are League of Legends, Dota 2, with their "Royal Battle" and all multiplayer products of this type. They gain their fame for a lot of reasons, but they certainly deserve it. Everyone wants to come home or to a computer club, sit down at the computer and fight. Somehow express yourself, splash out negative emotions, communicate with friends and get moral satisfaction from this. Space simulators provide a slightly different experience, which makes them not so popular among gamers.

Plus, space simulators, and indeed space-related games in general, have two key problems that prevent them from becoming so massive and popular.

First reason- Difficulty in implementation. Creating a map for CS:GO or League of Legends is quite difficult, you need to think through a lot of details and moments, draw graphics, test and release. However, this is a certain set of elements that will be polished and will not be touched again. Now imagine how much effort and time it takes to create at least a solar system. Create planets, organize locations, textures, living creatures, vegetation on these planets, add some kind of activity or just make them more or less interesting.

Now let's add transport to the planets - we need a ground version, aircraft, different spacecraft and stuff like that. If the game is based on the study of the galaxy, then you need to come up with a lot of mechanics, details and graphic components. As a result, it is much easier to create a shooter than to develop a really good space game.

The second reason- Popularity below stamped shooters and MOBAs. Yes, now many fans of EVE Online will say that space simulators have a huge audience, but online even the coolest and longest-running EVE at its peak was 50 thousand people. For comparison, Dota 2 is now in decline and 400 thousand people online are considered a meager figure, while two million people enter PUBG every day. Naturally, the developers do not have much desire to create a heavy project about space, when it will still have ten times fewer players than the modernized version of the Warcraft mod. And, if there are few players, then it will be more difficult to get a decent profit.

Because of these two difficulties, there are really very, very few space-themed game projects on the market. There are various indie games where only the name remains of space, there are games from the 2000s, where the graphics were redone and now they play on the feelings of the older generation. There are quite a few powerful and interesting products that I would like to play. Today I will talk about five games that, in my personal opinion, are the best representatives of their genre.

Plus, after the main part of the article there will be a bonus for those who want to play something about space, but do not want it to be the basis of the entire gameplay.

EVE Online

I think even if you have never played EVE Online, then you have definitely heard about it. The network constantly flashes data about the cost of ships destroyed during the battle for some important resource, planet, or simply during the clan war. And, it seems to me, this is a vivid example of a really good and complete game about space, with all the ensuing possibilities.

There are a lot of active players here who go about their business - they build the economy, extract resources, build ships, earn money, communicate, develop development strategies and even lead political battles. Yes, this game has its own politics, its own strong clans, and they are constantly fighting for resources, benefits, profitable locations and territories.

The game was released back in 2003. Just imagine - the game of 2003 is still played to this day, while online is even growing a little and players do not panic at all about moving somewhere. The number of active subscribers (about the subscription a little later) is 330 thousand people, from 15 to 50 thousand people are constantly online. And, most importantly, they all play on the same shared server. Imagine - 50 thousand people on one server. In 2016, the developer received $ 86 million in profit, which means that the project will develop and attract more and more new users.

The game is provided free of charge, but you will not be able to play for a long time without a paid subscription. The fact is that the free version has a number of restrictions on the level of the character and the equipment that you can use, so it will be unrealistic to play comfortably without a subscription. Here it is worth noting the price tag for an annual subscription - $131. And, most importantly, even paying $ 10 a month for access to the game, no one guarantees you success, victories in battles or a sea of ​​\u200b\u200bresources. You can explore space with an empty pocket all this year and pay the cost of two AAA games just for the opportunity to use all the features of the project.

However, this is the largest space game in history. A huge number of players, breathtaking ships, real economics and politics, plenty of opportunities for self-realization in various areas of virtual life. If you want to sit down seriously and for a long time at the helm of a spaceship, then EVE Online will give you everything you could wish for.

It should be understood that the game is quite complex and requires you to explore not only the game world, but also the mechanics, features of the economy, interaction with other players, and performing routine tasks. If you want to fly around the galaxy and fight a couple of enemies, close the game and go on about your business - this game is not for you. Absolutely not for you.

Pros:

• 15-50 thousand people on the server;
• unimaginable size virtual world;
• many ships;
• politics, economics, society;
• a serious, full-fledged game about space.

Minuses:

• costs $131 per year;
• it makes no sense to play for free;
• to delve long and difficult;
• even with a subscription, you need to plow like Papa Carlo;
• a cool ship costs like a used car.

May not like:

• the game takes a lot of time;
• need to play for years;
• politics and economics are more important than battles.

Elite: Dangerous

A game that deserved a very mixed reaction from users. The fact is that the developers promised gamers a lot of opportunities and a rich life in almost the entire Milky Way, but in reality only small areas of the overall map turned out to be really populated. Agree, when you are promised enemies, merchants and explorers on every planet, behind every asteroid and solar system, and you fly for a couple of hours in search of at least someone alive, the sensations deteriorate.

But, let's not talk about sad things. This project was released in 2014 and the developers are really working to make the game bring you more fun. Constant updates, patches, free add-ons and a cool plot line will bring you a lot of positive emotions literally in the first minutes of passing.

It is worth making a clarification - in the game there is an opportunity to play on your own, without other people; you can play in co-op with friends; you can play the multiplayer version of the project.

The first two options for passing are clear - you fly alone or with friends, fight, study planets, extract resources, enjoy open space and endless possibilities. But, sooner or later, you will want to plunge into online and the sensations will change dramatically. Yes, no one has been to the most distant planets, and if you fly a little farther than the main activity zone, then you will be looking for a live player for hours. If you stay in the sector of increased activity, you get a very vigorous space simulator.

You may be robbed. Or you and your friends can rob a loner, take all his goods and do nothing further until you catch the target again. You can explore the planets, descend to them (for this you need to pay for the DLC) and drive through the endless planets, collecting valuable supplies. You can just fly and watch beautiful landscapes, visit the most interesting planets for yourself and relax.

There are really a lot of activities, but online is noticeably lower and the game is not supplied by subscription. This is a significant difference from EVE Online - where players pay ten bucks a month and do not want this money to just disappear. Here, users are not so motivated for achievements, wars and the economy, since the game can be bought for ridiculous money on sale and receive content for many years in a row.

Pros:

• low entry threshold;
• on sale can be taken for $10;
• no subscription;
• three game modes;
• there is no need to invest in donations.

Minuses:

• the Milky Way is 95% empty;
• there is no important social component;
• the players are not so serious;
• landing on the planet for $20 DLC.

May not like:

• sandbox without a plot;
• the planets are bare and dull;
• new mechanics are introduced over the years.

no man sky

After the official release of the game, it became clear that No Man Sky is not what the developers promised us. Actually, because of this, such a storm of negativity arose, which can only be compared with the recent events around Star Wars Battlefront 2.

The fact is that the developers, as usual, promised a lot of things. In particular, they promised the players the vast expanses of the galaxy, where each planet will be unique, and its flora and fauna will not be repeated. The creators at each interview talked about a special formula that creates millions and billions of planets with a unique shape, color and features for the player.

And while Sean Murray lied in this regard, the two main lies lie elsewhere.

First lie - the game world will be so huge, diverse and multifaceted that two friends playing in the game will never be able to meet on, say, the same planet. It is because of this that the developers put pressure on the fact that it would be more interesting to play alone, because you will never meet your friend - the world is too big and huge distances separate you. In just two hours of play, players were able to get to the same planet, visit the same locations, and even chat with a non-player character who gave the same quests and dialogues. That is, not such a big world here.

Second lie - multiplayer game. It is because of this that the game was returned to the stores by thousands of users. It is because of this that the game will never be released on Steam at least for an average rating. It is because of this that the game is called the biggest deception in the gaming industry of the twenty-first century.

The developers in the interview repeatedly said that the game is multiplayer and although you will not be able to find your friend in a huge galaxy, you will meet other players and somehow interact too. It's just a single player game. There is not even a cooperative here, only a game for one person. Imagine that you have been waiting for the game for years, hoping that you are about to go with your friends on a spaceship across the galaxy in search of adventure and wealth, and you are told that in fact this will not happen.

After such a negative start, you might think that the game didn’t get better for me and how it got into the top at all. However, if we discard all these speeches of the product creators, user expectations and criticism of angry fans, then the game is very cool.

We have a really big virtual world. It's not big enough for you to fly from planet to planet for hours, but you can't even fly through the galaxy in a couple of minutes, there are decent distances, solar systems and stuff like that.

The planets are large, inhabited, and more or less unique. It should be understood that all planets and flora and fauna were created according to a set of templates and a formula. If you play for twenty hours, you already notice the similarities between the planets, after a hundred hours nothing new will be shown. On the other hand, the planets are interesting, you can land on them, collect resources, look at the surroundings and fly further to explore wondrous worlds.

Let's not forget about tasks, various kinds of dialogues and stories, the possibility of upgrading the ship or buying a new aircraft. It's all there, it's implemented quite coolly, and if you didn't expect something like multiplayer from the game, then you'll like it much more than EVE Online or Elite: Dangerous. Still, flying between planets, exploring them, extracting resources manually, completing tasks and enjoying unrealistically beautiful landscapes is much more interesting than doing politics or wandering around deserted locations in search of opponents to fight.

Pros:

• huge open world;
• inhabited planets;
• assignments, dialogues, stories;
• ship improvements;
• the freedom of action.

Minuses:

• developer lies;
• disappointment of the century;
• don't play with friends.

May not like:

• gets bored in a hundred hours;
• where are people?

Star Citizen

The Star Citizen project holds the record for raising funds for development, but many consider the game to be a scam. Actually, there are quite good reasons for this, but whether you believe it or not is another question. Fundraising for the development of this space simulator began in 2012 and continues to this day, only the developers have not shown a full-fledged product, there is only a tiny fraction of the promised content.

The fact is that on the Kickstarter platform, the developers requested a little more than two million dollars to create their incredibly cool project. Having collected more than four million, the team began to create the first module (part) of the game, along the way selling content on its website, by purchasing which you get access to the game immediately after the release. That is, the fundraising continued, although the collected amount was twice the required amount.

It was only in 2013 that the first part of the project was shown - the hangar module, in which you could watch your ship, upgrade it, and so on. Just think - for a whole year, the studio, consisting of two offices in Austin and Los Angeles with four million dollars on hand, created a hangar in which you can only look at the ship and repaint it, add some elements. In EA during this period, Need For Speed ​​​​may release a new one with hundreds of cars and tuning, for example.

At the beginning of 2017, the release of alpha version 3.0 was scheduled. The amount that the developers managed to raise exceeded $170 million. However, in the five years since the fundraising was launched, the game never left the alpha version and only four moons were provided to us from the promised galaxy.

At the moment, the players got access to some content, which, although very far from what the developers promised, but it already looks cool. We have four moons (not to be confused with the Earth's satellite - the Moon), there is a decent distance between them and you can move between objects by jumping into hyperspace. Yes, just like in Star Wars, when the stars around you stretch in lines and you overcome huge distances in a matter of moments.

In addition, upon arrival at the moon's orbit, you can explore it on your aircraft, fly around the space object and choose the most suitable place for landing. The dimensions of the moons are really impressive, and even to fly over the surface of one such satellite, you need to spend quite a lot of time. After exploring the landscape, you can land on the surface and go on a journey - for this there is a special vehicle with six wheels.

True, there are only a couple of interesting locations on the moon, while approximately 98% of the surface does not carry any interest at all. Desert locations with rare craters and hills that will get bored in ten minutes after the trip. You can search for secret locations and base with your population, NPCs and quests.

That is, today the project allows you to jump between four moons, drive on the desert surface of each of them, plus spend an unforgettable five minutes at the bases, there is nothing to do longer. There are also repair stations, but they are also not very interesting.

At the same time, you can play with adequate 30 frames per second only on an empty server. If two or three more people enter the server, then the FPS drops to 10-20 and does not rise any higher, even if your computer costs five thousand dollars. The problem is in the network code - it is not optimized at all for computers with current capacities.

The fact that caused distrust for the entire project as a whole was the change in the rules for the return of funds to users who bought ships and sets in Star Citizen. Previously, the rules stated that if the game is not released after 18 months after the specified release date, "contributors" will receive all their funds back. Now the rules have changed dramatically - funds cannot be returned until the team has completely stopped developing the game. Simply put, as long as the studio says development is underway, you can wait at least ten years for a refund.

Players are simply afraid that developers are deliberately delaying development and investing as much effort as necessary to further earn money from the sale of ships. After all, besides the modest and boring moons with a hangar for repairs, nothing else was implemented over such a long period and with such huge money on hand. Naturally, depositors are worried about their $45 (now the minimum amount to access the game) and too many factors indicate that they are worried for good reason.

However, if the game is still released in a full-fledged form, then this will be the end of absolutely all space simulators, and most online projects of other genres too. The developers have already shown a completely seamless virtual world with the ability to board a ship and explore space without barriers. In the future, we are promised the opportunity to land on any planet, collect resources or complete a quest, promise cities with characters, housing, entertainment and work. And I'm not talking about things like space battles, ships, modifications, and so on.

The game has a lot of ambitions, and if it is brought to mind, then it will be possible to explore space on your own, with friends, fight or trade, work and enjoy those activities that are not available in real life or other games. Only for the ambitions and what the developers show in their modules and videos for social networks, the game was called the best and most modern project.

Just imagine a game in which you get on your ship, fly through a dozen solar systems, fly up to one of the planets, land (no downloads or breaks), fight other players for resources, fly away and move on. In outer space, where there are no barriers. Sounds pretty damn good if it was still optimized for a comfortable game and given a little more content.

Pros:

• the most ambitious game in history;
• $170 million for development;
• open space without loading screens;
• hundreds of activities and hobbies;
• many variations of ships and equipment.

Minuses:

• for five years of development, only the alpha version;
• 10-20 FPS;
• four desert moons with no content;
• buy a ship - let's play.

May not like:

• we may not live to see the release version.

Space Engineers

The game Space Engineers for me is a kind of improved version of Minecraft - here you also need to build structures, extract resources, but building something sensible is really difficult. It is enough just to open the Internet and look at the projects of various kinds of aircraft that the players created in the game, and it becomes clear that the word "engineer" in the title is written for a reason. The designs are complex, they require an understanding of the schemes and features of some mechanisms, you need to calculate the engine power for the size of the ship and stuff like that.

The developers have taken on the very difficult task of creating a space simulator that will have a very detailed system for designing and assembling a spacecraft, a system for landing on planets and asteroids for resource extraction, plus a process of interaction between players. For a small development studio, this is a very difficult task, but they are gradually coping with it and this is good.

Already, Space Engineers has been optimized for you to play on your not the most powerful computer and enjoy it with a stable frame rate without drops. At the time of the release of the project in the early access stage, it was almost impossible to play, and now even on a mid-range computer, a quite nice picture is obtained. An endless virtual world opens up before you with such a range of possibilities that it takes your breath away.

You can get confused and find projects of huge ships on the net, then repeat the idea in the game, somehow change the design of the aircraft or redo the design. Very popular in this game are copies of spaceships from Star Wars, for example, which are very interesting to collect and you can always come up with something of your own. If you are not interested, you can quickly assemble a couple of ships with your friends and push them against each other, look at the beautiful destruction and laugh a lot.

Pros:

• ship design;
• manual assembly of aircraft;
• mass of mechanisms;
• open space with all the laws of physics;
• the project is constantly updated and finalized;
• there are hundreds of guides on the web for assembling the coolest ships;
• you can collect the "Death Star".

Minuses:

• optimization is not yet perfect;
• not quite friendly interface;
• complex mechanisms;
• Building a ship takes a lot of time.

May not like:

• there is no mechanic for fun;
• there is no need to communicate with other players either.

Games closely related to space

Star Wars: Battlefront II
A game that received so much negativity at the start that now one can only hope that DICE will take on projects on this subject. Lootboxes have led to refunds for digital copies, hundreds of videos have been filmed online, and even more negative reviews have been written. All this has ruined the reputation of the game, which can give you a much more positive experience from the conquest of space than many products focused on this idea entirely.

I mean space battles - they are thought out very well and playing in space on a rebel fighter, or destroying everyone on an imperial ship, is cool enough and against the backdrop of these feelings you can even forget about the boxes. Indeed, the battle mode between spaceships here looks as cheerful as possible, players do unimaginable things with ships, and if you are a fan of all this and the theme of firefights in space is close to you, then Star Wars: Battlefront II will give you the best multiplayer space fighter battles on the video game market.

Mass Effect: Andromeda

Another game that has been shattered by negative comments from reviewers, users, and critics. Everyone expected the project to be something in the spirit of the old school, while the developers from BioWare decided to go the other way and show more mechanics, a new story. It is a pity that under the pressure of criticism Mass Effect: Andromeda failed in sales and now it is reliably known that the entire franchise is frozen indefinitely.

I will not say my opinion about the product as a whole, it is not important anymore, but the implementation of space research here is fantastic. You find a new system, manually scan each planet, find the information you need, and progress further in the storyline. Sometimes we are given the opportunity to go to the planet itself and explore its territory on an all-terrain vehicle, look for resources, enemies and secret places. Plus, there aren't many games where you can have a relationship with a girl of alien origin.

This is the third AAA-class project that has experienced a mountain of negativity, not entirely deserved, as it seems to me. Still, when you look at the storyline, game mechanics and graphics, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare seems to be even more attractive than Call of Duty: WWII. But, now the conversation is not about that.

This part of the famous franchise has some of the best space combat I've seen. Of course, Battlefront II goes far ahead here, but COD also has something to answer. Well-designed controls, peppy skirmishes with dozens of opponents, dangerous turns and huge maps with a lot of small objects in open space. Yes, it’s worth saying that these battles are implemented only in the storyline and some tasks seem to be drawn out, but, in general, in terms of space battles, this part of the shooter directly pleased. I think no one expected such a good implementation of this gameplay element from the project.

EVE: Valkyrie

The article ends with one of the most advanced games in general on the gaming market, not only in the space simulator genre. The EVE: Valkyrie project was not initially perceived by the players as something serious and exciting, and this is a VR game, that is, you also need to buy a helmet for it.

Now we can say with confidence that this project is the reason why a gamer will buy a virtual reality helmet. Very colorful, bright and juicy implementation of space battles, with almost complete immersion on the part of the player, allows you to completely forget about the usual games with a mouse and keyboard / gamepad.

This game is the future of the industry, a prime example of how we will play in five years. If you really wanted to look at virtual reality, but did not notice worthy games for which you could buy an expensive toy, then take a closer look at this simulator. It will satisfy even the most sophisticated users.

Kerbal Space Program

I can't call Kerbal Space Program just a game. This is a vivid example of how the virtual world can be as close as possible in terms of the laws of physics to the real world, and how a game about little green men can motivate to study science more than the educational system. The developers give you so incredible scope for imagination and engineering ideas that it’s simply impossible to explain it in a nutshell.

However, I will try. Why is this game so interesting? We have a team of carbonauts and the task is to get to some planet, conduct our research and return home. Moreover, throughout this chain, success will depend solely on you and no one will land a rocket or take off for you. It is necessary to fully design the aircraft, design its take-off module, take off from the Earth (this is not always possible) and go into space. Let's add to this the calculation of the flight trajectory to the desired point and the trajectory of returning to the home planet. And, of course, landing.

Sometimes it takes hundreds of takeoff attempts to implement one successful rocket. A lot of mistakes, failures and problems force you to read thematic literature, watch photos of real rockets, watch videos about the launch of real shuttles into space. The study of physics and astronomy, technical knowledge helps a lot. This is not just a toy for those who want to shoot at enemies in the evening, here you need to think, study and enlighten. Agree, there are not many games you know where you need to learn something from the real world and read books.

Interesting Facts:

• In schools in Europe and the USA, the game is used for scientific projects in astronautics and physics.
• NASA contacted the developers of the project directly and asked them to familiarize the players with the program for 2020 to capture extraterrestrial bodies.
• Mod developers for the Kerbal Space Program have created a ton of content and continue to do so.
• On the net you can find detailed diagrams of a variety of rockets and assemble everything yourself.

Shall we play in space? There are so many interesting things! Here are just a few ideas on how to use the space theme and your child's hobbies to expand their knowledge of the world around them and keep their interest in everything related to space.

www.temaufa.ru

The space theme is inexhaustible. You can study space even with kids, not to mention schoolchildren, who, due to their age, are already able to understand and remember a lot. You can draw, sculpt astronauts, aliens, planets, aircraft; invent new names for constellations and galaxies. All kinds of games on the space theme will help to tell the scientific theory of the starry sky, the theory of the origin of life on earth and the construction of spacecraft in an accessible form. Show your imagination, the theme of space is interesting for children and fraught with many mysteries. With the help of simple games, your child will discover a lot of new and unknown things for himself, get acquainted with the world around him.

blog.mann-ivanov-ferber.ru

Using an illustration from a book (Dominic Wolliman, Ben Newman) as an example, you can arrange a vitamin game in Eat the Planet. Vegetables and fruits will help children visually understand and remember the names of the planets and their sizes relative to each other.

amelica.com

You can make shadow loto yourself. Choose the right pictures and make duplicates in the form of silhouette images. It is better to laminate the images - then you can play with them more than once.

steshka.ru

If you want your child to quickly memorize the names and appearance of the planets, make cards. First you need to carefully consider and discuss what is shown in the pictures. Briefly tell something important and special about each planet.

steshka.ru

You can print (draw) two versions of cards with the planets of the solar system, cut and turn over the other side. Task: find pairs. The game perfectly trains memory!

4tololo.ru

Let's remember which planets have rings? From old disks you can make "tops" in the form of planets. By the way, if we approach the issue strictly from a scientific point of view, then Venus and Uranus rotate in the opposite direction from the rotation of the Earth.

steshka.ru

You can think of a lot of similar chains. Such tasks develop the logical thinking of kids.

steshka.ru

The more various tasks and games on the space theme you come up with, the longer the child's interest in this topic will not fade. You can build space labyrinths, navigate a spaceship through a meteor shower, collect puzzles and much more.

www.babyblog.ru

A bewitching sight - space in a jar! You need to put a piece of cotton wool in the jar. Mix water with glycerin and glitter, add dyes and pour the resulting space liquid into a jar. Close the lid tightly. You can view the space in the jar with a magnifying glass.

gomel-prazdnik.by

From the photo it is easy to understand how to make star filters on a regular flashlight. Take a paper cupcake pan and glue a thick sheet of dark cardboard to it in the shape of glass. Poke holes in the form of a constellation. In order for the child to better remember the names of the constellations, ask him to connect the dots, you can even sign. In the dark, of course, this will not be visible, but it would be nice to use the training moment of the game too. If you make several different filters, they will be interesting to play with in a dark room. You can let Ursa Major and Ursa Minor on the ceiling before going to bed, you can project the Hounds of the Dogs or the Dolphin onto the wall.

gomel-prazdnik.by

Another light game can be made from a New Year's garland and an ordinary shoe box. Great nightlight for a kid's room! If there are boxes of the same size, you can simply change the lids - and each time new stars will appear in the “sky”.

gomel-prazdnik.by

We have already lit the stars, now it's up to the rocket! Let's build it from a plastic bottle and a sock. You will also need red and yellow threads to imitate flames and cardboard, you can use foil. It is most convenient to attach rocket parts to each other with a glue gun, but this work is best left to adults. Let's fly!

www.pinterest.com

Kids will enjoy flying around the house with a rocket on a stick: they can spin around with it, write out all kinds of monograms, do a “dead loop” and “deadly” tricks.

krokotak.com

Another way to launch a rocket. Inflate the balloon, attach a tube to it with tape and thread a thick thread into it. Tie both ends of the thread to something in the house (for example, to the door handle and to the cabinet handle). The longer the thread, the longer the rocket will fly! The rocket needs to be drawn with markers on an already inflated balloon. How to make a rocket fly? The ball does not need to be tied, you just need to temporarily attach a clothespin to the “tail”. Remove the clothespin - the rocket begins to move along the thread, the air gradually leaves the balloon.

secondstreet.ru

Believe it or not. There are chickens in space that lay real space eggs. They look like this.

secondstreet.ru

Drip dyes on paper towels and wrap boiled chicken eggs previously washed with soap in them. Wrap in bags and leave for a while for the food coloring to do its "cosmic" work. The result will please you - the child will be delighted!

Game "What will I take with me into space"

Find suitable drawings or clippings from old magazines. Lay them out in front of the children. Offer to choose what you can take with you on the spacecraft. It can be: a book, a notebook, a spacesuit, an apple, a candy, a tube of semolina, an alarm clock, a sausage.

Game "Space Dictionary"

Who will name more words related to space. For example: a satellite, a rocket, a cosmodrome, an astronaut, an alien, planets, the Moon, Earth, an astronaut, a space suit, etc. You can play both together and as a team. The benefits are obvious: vocabulary replenishment, speech development.

Even more space entertainment in the article .

We are waiting for your space ideas in the comments. Tell us what space games your kids like to play.

Well, flew to explore space?

I have collected here a lot of developmental and creative tasks from different resources, in which the kid could show his artistic qualities, study celestial objects a little and train his hand for writing. All pictures are ready for printing - download and play!

==1==

Cards for children "Space"

Print out a sheet of cards and either laminate it or stick it on cardboard. Then cut along the gray lines. To make the game with cards educational, show the baby the cards and tell what is shown on them, describe these objects, what is special about them. Show only 1 card at a time.

==2==

Lotto "Solar System"

Round small cards with planets, sun and moon. The planets of the solar system are not named to save space, but you can easily sign them on the back of the cards.

The order is: Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto.

*To download the image in its original size, press the right mouse button and select "save image as ..."

How to play loto?

• Tell your child what is on the cards.
• Show how to overlay cards on the same items on the playing field.
• Ask him to lay out the cards on the field himself.
• Try each time to tell something new about the depicted subject.
• If the baby already knows how to speak, then let him name the object with which he picked up the card.

==3==

Space coloring pages: Earth and Moon, Rocket, Saturn, flying saucer.

*To download the image in its original size, press the right mouse button and select "save image as ..."

==4==

Task for preparing the hand for the letter “To the start! Attention! March!".

Have your toddler help the rocket take off by drawing a line from the ground to the rocket. If you hide this printout in a file corner and give your baby a dry erase marker (whiteboard marker), you can do the task many times.

*To download the image in its original size, press the right mouse button and select "save image as ..."

==5==

Find identical rockets and match them.

This game is about attention. The child needs to find the same rockets among many similar ones. This is a difficult task, so do not worry if the baby does not immediately cope with it. Hide the sheet in the file corner, like the previous task, and the next day invite the baby to play this game again.

*To download the image in its original size, press the right mouse button and select "save image as ..."

==6==

Draw half.

This task prepares the hand for writing and develops imaginative thinking. If the child is still small and it is difficult for him to complete this task on his own, try to draw with him hand in hand.

*To download the image in its original size, press the right mouse button and select "save image as ..."

==7==

Draw wings and tails for the rockets.

This game develops creative thinking, because, you see, it’s quite difficult to come up with different beautiful wings for all rockets

*To download the image in its original size, press the right mouse button and select "save image as ..."

Mobile game "Cosmonauts". (middle group)

Fast rockets are waiting for us, (Children walk in a circle holding hands)
to walk the planets
whichever we want, we will fly to such.
After these words, the astronauts begin to “fly” around the hall, at the end of the music they need to take a hoop of a certain color with a command.
Riddle 1
On an airship
Cosmic, obedient,
We, overtaking the wind,
We are heading for…
***
Riddle 2
planet blue,
Beloved, dear,
She is yours, she is mine
And it's called...
***
Riddle 3
There is a special pipe
In it the universe is visible,
See the stars in a kaleidoscope
Astronomers in...
***
Riddle 4
bottomless ocean,
The ocean is endless
airless, dark,
And extraordinary
Universes live in it,
stars and comets
There are also inhabited
Maybe the planets...
***
Riddle 5
The object is in the universe
Insidious, not simple,
He eats the stars
Like a sandwich with caviar.
Dangerously invisible
And not visible to the eye
So dark dark...
***
Riddle 6
It's not easy to calculate
Stars in the dark sky at night.
Knows everything
Stars in the sky...
***
Riddle 7
Bear on a block of ice
Girlfriend in the sky above the wave.
She is a constellation, he is alive
In a shiny fur coat.
He is friends with wind and water,
She is with the North Star.
They can never meet
Bear with Big…
***
Riddle 8
Sparkling huge tail in the dark
Rushing among the bright stars in the void,
She is not a star, not a planet,
Mystery of the Universe...
***
Riddle 9
The very first in space
Flying at great speed
brave Russian boy
Our astronaut...
***
Riddle 10
Almost at the speed of light
A fragment flies from the planet,
Heading towards the Earth, flies and flies
Heavenly cosmic ...
***
Riddle 11
Lights the way at night
The stars won't sleep
Let everyone sleep, she can't sleep
No sleep in the sky...
***
Riddle 12
There is a special spacecraft,
He sends signals to Earth to everyone,
And like a lonely traveler
Flying in orbit...
Guesses:
Riddle 1 - rocket. Riddle 2 - Earth. Riddle 3 - telescope. Riddle 4 - Space. Riddle 5 - Black hole. Riddle 6 - stargazer. Riddle 7 - a bear. Riddle 8 - comet. Riddle 9 - Gagarin. Riddle 10 - meteorite. Riddle 11 - the moon. Riddle 12 - satellite.

Mobile game "Fast rockets are waiting for us" (senior, preparatory group)

Hoops-rockets are laid out around the hall. Their number is several pieces less than the players. Children join hands and walk in a circle with the words:
- Fast rockets are waiting for us
To travel to planets.
What we want
Let's fly to this one!
But there is one secret in the game:
There is no room for latecomers!
After the last words, the children scatter and take their places in the “rockets” (if there are a lot of children, then two or three people can sit in one rocket) and take different space poses. Those who did not get a seat in the rocket choose the most interesting and beautiful astronaut poses. Then everyone gets back into the circle and the game starts all over again.
Game "What has changed"
There are objects on the table: a thermometer, a pencil, a pen, a notebook, a compass. You need to look carefully where it is. At the leader's signal, everyone turns away. They turn on a signal. To the question “what has changed”, the children must answer.
Physical education minute-game "Cosmonaut's suit"
Educator:
- Astronauts need a special space suit - a space suit. It protects the human body, allows you to breathe. We are also in space now and we are wearing spacesuits.
- The astronauts have a helmet on their heads (tilts and turns of the head).
- The overalls should be comfortable and not hinder movement (turns and tilts of the body).
- Hands are protected by gloves (rotation by hands, compression and unclenching of hands).
- Astronaut boots with very dense soles (walking in place, jumping).
- On the back behind the shoulders a satchel with important devices and air tanks (raising and lowering the shoulders, inhale-exhale)
Station GAME-COMPETITIVE (senior, middle, preparatory group)
There are competitions.
For example, you need to transport passengers to a distant planet to the music. They carry passengers in a hoop - running in pairs. The team that transports passengers the fastest wins.
The game "Confusion: jump and jump" (senior, middle, preparatory group)
Educator:
- Let's test your play-jumping-jumping energy and cosmic mindfulness! If I shout: “Jump”, then you, jumping up, loudly and unanimously respond: “Jump!”. And if I shout: “Jump!”, then you all jump up and answer: “Jump”. Remember? Begin!
Station LOVKACHI (senior, middle, preparatory group)
At this station, tests of agility, agility and endurance are carried out.
For example, a game of skittles. The game starts with 6 (4, 5, 7) people. They walk to music around 5 pins (3, 4, 6). As soon as the music stops, you need to grab the skittle. Who did not have time - sits down.
Station WEIGHTNESS (senior, middle, preparatory group)
Endurance (balance) tests are carried out at this station. Children do the exercise "Swallow".
The game "Climb into the ring" (senior, middle, preparatory group)
Children are divided into two teams, 5-7 people each. Each member of the team reaches the hoop, climbs through it and runs back to his team. The team that comes first wins.
Station MYSTERIOUS (senior, middle, preparatory group)
Educator:
- Who will be the first to receive the task, we will find out if we count.
"Astronomical rhyme"
An astrologer lived on the moon
He counted the planets.
Mercury
- one, Venus - two, sir,
Three is Earth, four is Mars.
Five - Jupiter, six - Saturn,
Seven is Uranus, eighth is Neptune,
And after him, then,
Nine - furthest away - Pluto.
A. Usacheva
Space riddles
Clear skies are beautiful
There are many fables about him.
You won't let me lie
It looks like animals live there.
There is a predatory beast in Russia,
Look - he's in heaven now!
Glows on a clear night -
Big Dipper).
And the bear is with a child,
Kind, sweet little bear.
Glows next to mom
Ursa Minor).
Planet with a purple tint.
In the coloring of the military, boastful.
Like pink satin
The planet is glowing ... (Mars).
To arm the eye
And make friends with the stars
Milky way to see
We need a powerful ... (telescope).
A bird cannot reach the moon
Fly and land
But he can do it
Make fast ... (rocket).
The rocket has a driver
Weightlessness lover.
astronaut in english
And in Russian ... (cosmonaut).
Station SILACHI (senior, middle, preparatory group)
There is a tug-of-war competition.
The game "Who will collect space debris faster"(senior, middle, preparatory group)
Cardboard figurines, crumpled pieces of paper, small toys are scattered on the floor. On command to the music, the children collect "space debris" in baskets. The one who collects the most wins.
Craft ROCKET (senior, middle, preparatory group)
- But in order to control the rocket,
You need to be brave and strong.
The weak are not taken into space,
After all, flying is not an easy job!
Don't look around
You are an astronaut today!
We start training
To become strong and dexterous,
Turned around to face
Let's start the exercises! (We do squats, side bends, arm rotations, etc.)
- Do you know that ... the world's first rocket was invented by a Russian scientist - Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky. He lived in the city of Kaluga and worked as a school teacher. Konstantin Eduardovich was very fond of observing the stars through a telescope, studied them and dreamed of flying to them.

The game "Who will collect the most stars"(senior, middle, preparatory group)
The teacher scatters multi-colored stars, and the children collect them in different baskets, sorting them by color.

1. Own rocket
The spaceship is an integral part of any space game play. Do cardboard tube rocket , which usually remain after toilet paper. It can be painted and decorated with bright stickers. Blind an aircraft out of plasticine and place a Lego man there. Or go on an intergalactic adventure yourself. The cardboard box left over from a big purchase can be easily adapted for space purposes.

2. Lunar soil sample
There are so many options for tactile games and . You can use flour, coffee beans, rice dyed with black food coloring , black plasticine, cocoa powder, glass beads and much more that will replace the night sky and soil samples from another planet in the game. We present one simple recipe , which will help to make safe lunar soil at home.

Here are the ingredients to mix:
1. Baking soda
2. Water
3. Colored sequins
4. Black food coloring or liquid black watercolor (Watercolor is better, since food coloring is more difficult to wash off skin and clothes).
Just enough water should be added to the soda so that the soda becomes a homogeneous mass, but no more so that it does not spread.

3. What are craters?
Tell your child how craters appeared on the surface of many planets. Tray sprinkled with a mixture of flour and cocoa - an excellent field for experiments. Take glass balls, pebbles (something small and heavy enough). Throwing them into flour, you can observe how pits of different sizes are formed (depending on the size of the falling "meteorite").

4. A family of aliens
A set of plasticine with a slight movement of the hand turns into a family of funny aliens. What are yours? Maybe one of them is very similar to the teacher, and the other resembles the neighbor's dog? Many-armed, one-eyed, purple-skinned, toothy, winged, but most importantly - undoubtedly born of a child's fantasy. By the way, try using luminescent plasticine, then the aliens will glow in the evenings. You can also take a set of toy eyes and stick a dozen or two on the head of the newcomer. And not only on the head.

5. Map of the starry sky
There are a lot of options on how to make a map of the starry sky, and all of them are mainly suitable for school children (at this age, the level of focus on small details and the level of abstract thinking allows you to sit for a long time studying the constellations and creating a celestial map). For younger children, simpler methods are suitable. For example, in small cardboard cards make holes according to the scheme of the simplest constellations. On a sunny day or by pointing a lamp at the cards, the child will be able to see a shadow from them on the wall with bright dots-stars that form a constellation. You can do the same with regular paper cups : make holes at the bottom and shine a flashlight through the glass on the wall. Another option is to stick stars or draw circles on a chalkboard, and let the kid connect them with lines.

6. Home solar system
The solar system in your pocket is so cool! Especially for kids who are just getting acquainted with the world of space and are still confused in the name and location of the planets. Match together plastic and metal caps that are similar in size and color to the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. The moon, by the way, there too. At the same time, you can tell why it is visible at night in the sky. Tell older children that scientists are gradually discovering new planets, and there are already five dwarf planets in our solar system that were previously unknown.

7. Moonstones
If the idea to play in space came up instantly, but you don’t have time to make complex preparations, take the most ordinary foil and quickly crumple a set of real moonstones out of it. You can collect them with a special space excavator, lay them out according to size, throw them into a bowl for accuracy, feed them to moon people - as you can see, there are many game options, and almost every kitchen has foil.

8. Selfie with an astronaut
Constellations are constellations, and the most favorite space entertainment is to be yourself in the role of an astronaut. From plastic bottles and colored paper you can make a booster bag for intergalactic flights, and from cardboard to make frames on a stick in the form of space suits for space family photos. But even without a suit, any child can imagine that he is an astronaut. It is enough to believe in it and you are already developing supersonic speed.