Do you love making art and using your imagination? So do we! Every NASA mission starts with a creative idea about how to explore something in a new way.
The art challenge:
In this new activity, we’d like to challenge young explorers to think about and draw a space-related situation each month. And after the month is over, we’ll select a few imaginative drawings to be featured on the NASA Space Place website!
So, get ready to exercise that creative brain of yours! Here’s what you’ll need:
- Paper
- Art supplies (pencils, markers, crayons, paints – whatever you like to use)
- A grownup helper with a camera or scanner and access to email
Space Place art challenge prompt:
Every year on April 22, we celebrate our planet. On Earth Day, we appreciate our home and its special features like our oceans and atmosphere.
Our oceans are full of life, yet many of our planet’s most important species are almost invisible to us. Phytoplankton are one example. These tiny plant-like creatures drift in our oceans. They are the center of the marine food web. This means that small animals eat phytoplankton, bigger animals eat those animals, and so on.
The ocean and atmosphere are connected. Together, they move energy, water, nutrients, gases, and pollutants around our planet. Phytoplankton are an important part of the cycle for oxygen in our atmosphere. Humans and animals need that oxygen to breathe!
NASA’s PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) mission launched in February of this year. This mission helps us learn more about the health of our oceans by measuring phytoplankton.
This month’s prompt: Phytoplankton are tiny, but they come together to have a huge impact on our planet and its processes. For Earth Day, think of something else on Earth that involves a lot of smaller parts coming together to make something big. Can you make your art submission out of many small pieces to create something whole, like a collage?
Submit your artwork between 4/1/24 and 4/31/24. Selected art submissions will appear on the website in early May!
How to submit your art:
Once you’ve gotten your ideas on the page, have a grownup take a photo or scan of the drawing and email the following to NASAKidsArt@jpl.nasa.gov:
That’s it! Have fun creating and we can’t wait to see your drawings!
This Month’s Art Challenge Selections
Create art showing what wacky things could happen on Earth if there were no leap years!
Adrianne, 13
Akashh, 10
Alden
Brian, 10
Elena, 12
Elladya, 9
Emiliana, 11
Gianna, 12
Henry, 10
Jaiden, 13
Joe, 12
Johann, 8
Juan
Kathryn, 13
Krrish, 13
Naisha, 7
Nataly, 11
Nicole, 13
Oden, 6
Sophia, 10
Valeria, 10
Xander, 11
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I hereby grant to the California Institute of Technology (Institute) and its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) the right to make, use, create derivative works and/or display:
- photos, video and/or audio tape recordings of, my Child and/or
- artwork (in any media, including drawings, photos, music and video creations) created by my Child and submitted to JPL and/or
in any manner or form, and for any lawful purpose at any time. I also grant the Institute to use my Child’s name associated with such photos, recordings of my Child or with his/her artwork. I understand that my Child may be photographed and/or video or audio taped verbatim and that the Institute may allow persons external to the Institute to view the pictures or recordings in part or in their entirety. I also understand that any artwork submitted by my Child to the Institute for the Project may be edited, reproduced or displayed publicly at the Institute’s discretion. I am fully aware and agree that such use of my Child’s image or artwork and name may include posting on publicly available internet sites, including JPL sites and other publicly viewable social media sites. I waive any right that I may have to review or approve of any finished products, or the uses to which such products may be applied. I release and discharge the Institute, its employees, sponsors, and subcontractors from any liability to me by virtue of any representation that may occur in the creation, editing or use of said photos and/or video or audio tape recordings or the editing or use of my Child’s artwork.