In the next few minutes,
We'll close our eyes together and imagine a trip away from planet Earth,
Through the universe,
With the moon,
Planets,
Stars,
And more awaiting your discovery.
Relax.
You won't need to pack a lunch or go to the store to buy a spacesuit,
Because you're going there in your mind,
Pretending,
Using your imagination.
Now before we explore the vast universe,
Let's take time to get comfy.
Lay down in your bed,
Or wherever you feel comfortable right now.
Snuggle up to your soft blanket,
Or cuddly stuffed toy,
If you have one.
Let's get cozy and comfortable,
Ready to deeply relax.
And just wiggle around if you need to,
Until you feel just right.
Notice how it feels to lay down,
Relaxing.
Your head feeling heavier on the pillow,
Your back sinking heavily into the bed,
And your arms and legs weighing down your body,
Sinking softly into the bed under you.
As a young astronaut,
You can pretend gravity is weighing you down.
You are safe here.
Now let's notice our breathing.
As you breathe now,
Relaxing,
Just notice as your belly rises softly with each breath in,
And drops softly with each breath out.
We'll take a few deep breaths in,
And slightly longer,
Slow breaths out.
Breathe in,
Breathe out.
Again,
Breathe in,
Breathe out.
Good.
Now continue to notice your breathing,
And gently close your eyes.
Now is the time for your imagination to see and hear our rocket ship launch into space toward the stars.
You are all dressed in a super safe and shiny astronaut suit,
And sitting safely buckled up in the pilot's chair.
You are ready to launch your rocket,
And push the red button to start the rocket engines.
As the countdown begins,
You feel comfortable and safe.
Nine,
Eight,
Seven,
You're wondering what exploring space will be like,
And what leaving planet Earth will be like.
Six,
Five,
Four,
The rumbling of your rocket engines firing up begins to gently shake you.
All this is normal for an astronaut,
And you're safe.
Three,
Two,
One,
And blast off.
Your powerful rocket is now soaring,
Climbing through the skies,
The atmosphere,
And beyond.
Through the spaceship's window,
You can see your home,
All the buildings in the city,
And country,
Getting farther and farther away.
You see the oceans,
Too,
Getting smaller as you go higher above our beautiful blue and green planet Earth to boldly explore the solar system.
You've never been this far from home,
But you know you'll be back soon.
Now you're also feeling lighter as gravity slips away,
And your seat belt keeps you from floating around.
You see how our planet is round as it gets smaller and smaller as you travel deeper and deeper into space.
Soon you're flying past satellites,
And then you see the International Space Station.
You wave to one of the astronauts looking out of her window as your rocket goes by.
A few seconds later,
You're zooming by the moon,
And you see the bumps and craters on the moon's surface with a clarity that wasn't possible from home on planet Earth.
The moon is not as nice as Earth,
With its thick forests,
Sandy beaches,
And lush gardens.
Our home planet feels very special.
The view from space is quite different,
And with cosmic wonder,
You view a night sky like never before.
In the distance,
You see a comet.
It is a bright,
Racing chunk of ice with a long blue-green tail of frozen steam and dust.
You see a comet now.
How lucky!
By tomorrow,
It may be in another solar system,
Another part of the universe,
Far,
Far away.
And the stars even seem brighter from your spaceship.
There are no clouds or atmosphere in the way to dim the view.
Some of the stars you see are a bright white,
Others blue,
Others pink,
Others greenish.
Each tiny,
Shiny speck in the universe looks only like a dot to our eyes.
But each star is as large as the sun,
And each star may have its own solar system,
With its own planets and moons.
There are way too many stars to count.
Millions,
Maybe billions,
Or gazillions.
You can also see a long cluster of stars known as the Milky Way.
The millions of stars look a bit like milk being poured across the universe,
And it is so vast that it would take thousands of light-years just to travel to the center of the Milky Way.
So we're not going there tonight.
You also notice a giant circle of huge rocks going all the way around the sun,
Just like all the planets,
Including Earth.
Some of the big rocks are small enough to hold in your hand.
Others are as big as a house.
They're called asteroids,
And the asteroid belt floats through space like an enormous,
Rocky merry-go-round.
Your exploration continues as your rocket soars past some of our own solar system's planets.
Outside the window to your left,
Toward the sun,
You see Mercury and Venus,
And they seem grayish in color,
And you see Mars,
And it is red.
Looking out the window to your right,
Jupiter appears brown and orange.
Saturn is a pale gold with rings of red and white.
No other planet seems to have these colorful rings,
And you notice that Saturn also has many colorful moons.
You wonder,
What would it be like to live on these planets?
And after thinking about this a while,
It makes you feel more like returning to our own beautiful blue and green planet Earth.
It's the special place in our solar system we call home.
You gently turn the rocket back toward home.
As the rocket lands back on planet Earth,
You realize all this space exploration has been exhausting.
So you remove the astronaut suit,
And you're happy to be home.
You yawn,
Tired now after a busy day that was truly out of this world.
And you know that sleep tonight will be filled with fond memories of this awesome tour of the solar system.
You are now ready for bed and for a restful,
Deep sleep.
Dreams will be fresh with memories of your time exploring and knowing there will be more fun days just like this one.
Relax where you lay now.
You are safe,
Cozy,
And comfortable at home on planet Earth.
And with each breath in and each breath out,
You let go of the day.
And you are ready now for pleasant,
Sweet dreams.
Sleep well,
My friend.
