World Space Week takes place from 4 to 10 October each year, bringing schools and communities together in a global celebration of space exploration. This year, why not start a Rocket Revolution at your school with practical activities that inspire curiosity, collaboration and scientific thinking?
Few classroom activities can match the anticipation of a rocket countdown. Pupils make their predictions, everyone watches the launch and, in a burst of water, science takes flight.
Water rockets provide an exciting way to explore forces, pressure, measurement, design, data and problem-solving. Activities can be adapted for pupils from ages 5 to 16, making practical rocketry suitable for primary lessons, secondary investigations, STEM clubs, enrichment days and whole-school events.
Here are seven ways to bring World Space Week to life.
Best for: Ages 5 to 11
Transform your school grounds into a launch site by holding a Water Rocket Activity Day.
A dedicated activity day gives children time to explore the complete scientific journey. They can make predictions, prepare rockets, observe launches, measure results and explain what they have discovered. Teams might compare different launches or investigate how changing one factor affects performance.
You could divide the day into activity stations covering:
As well as building scientific understanding, an Activity Day encourages communication, collaboration and curiosity. It also gives pupils an awe-inspiring shared experience that they are likely to remember long after World Space Week has finished.
Ready to organise your event?
Explore our Water Rocket Activity Day
Best for: Ages 7 to 16
How high can a water rocket fly, and how can pupils measure it accurately?
In the Water Rocket Launch Challenge, pupils aged 7 to 14 launch water rockets using different volumes of water. Before each launch, ask teams to predict which volume will produce the greatest altitude. They can then consider different ways to measure the rocket’s flight and record their results.
Questions might include:
For students aged 14 to 16, the activity can become a more detailed physics investigation. Students can calculate the rocket’s altitude and compare their answer with measurements recorded by a Rokit Logger. This provides an opportunity to discuss accuracy, assumptions, variation and the reliability of different measurement methods.
These age ranges and investigation ideas form part of the World Space Week campaign brief.
Start measuring your launches:
Get your Water Rocket.
Explore the Rocket Logger.
Best for: Ages 5 to 14
Mars has captured human imagination for generations. In this practical mission, pupils investigate whether they can launch a rocket accurately towards the red planet.
Begin by creating a Mars target on the school field or playground. This could be a large circular target with different scoring zones. Teams then launch their water rockets and record where they land.
Depending on pupils’ ages, teams could explore the effect of:
Younger children can concentrate on aiming, observing and describing what happens. Older pupils can collect results, calculate averages and identify patterns. Ask each group to explain what it changed, what it measured and whether the change improved accuracy.
The brief recommends varying bottle size, water volume or launch angle to investigate how successfully teams can reach their Mars target.
This activity connects space exploration with an authentic engineering question: how can we optimise a system so that it reaches its intended destination?
Prepare for your Mission to Mars:
A successful space mission begins long before launch. It needs a destination, a purpose, a crew and a carefully designed spacecraft.
Invite pupils to work in teams and plan their own mission. Each group chooses:
Children can decorate their Water Rokit to represent their spacecraft, then present their plans before launch. They might explain where they are travelling, what they hope to discover and why they selected particular equipment. For example, a mission to Mars might carry tools for analysing rocks, while a journey to an icy moon could need equipment to investigate frozen water.
There is plenty of room for imagination, but pupils should also be encouraged to explain the scientific thinking behind their choices.
Mission planning, rocket decoration and presenting the purpose of the mission are all included in the activity outlined for pupils aged 5 to 11.
This is an excellent way to combine science with art, design, literacy and speaking skills.
Give every mission an exciting launch:
Find your water-rocket equipment.
For secondary students, a water-rocket launch can become a complete student-led scientific investigation.
Rather than following a fixed experiment, ask students to develop a question of their own. Possible questions include:
This approach supports practical application of the scientific method, data analysis, evaluation and GCSE practical skills. A Rokit Logger can help students collect flight data and compare measured performance with their prior calculations.
Encourage students to consider not only whether their hypothesis was supported, but how confident they can be in their conclusion. Were there enough repeated measurements? Did conditions remain consistent? Could another group reproduce the investigation?
Bring data into your rocket investigation:
Find your launch equipment.
Explore the Rocket Logger.
Astronauts on distant planets need essential supplies. Can your pupils complete successful launches and help rescue them?
Scatter bean bags, balls or clearly marked “supply packs” around the playground. Each item can represent something the astronauts need, such as:
Teams earn or collect supplies by completing successful water-rocket launches. You could provide each group with a mission card explaining which astronauts need help and which supplies must be delivered.
Afterwards, invite children to explain why rockets are needed to transport equipment into space. What would astronauts need to survive? Which supplies are most important? How might a spacecraft protect its cargo during a journey?
The Planet Rescue activity in the campaign brief uses successful launches to help pupils obtain supplies for astronauts while exploring why rockets deliver equipment into space.
The result is a lively combination of imaginative play, movement and scientific learning.
Activate your rescue mission:
Engineering is a process of designing, testing, evaluating and improving. Give students a practical design brief by asking them to improve the performance of a water rocket.
Possible modifications could include:
Each team should explain the purpose of its modification and establish how success will be measured. Students can create an initial design, build a prototype, test it and use their observations or data to make an improvement.
At the end of the activity, celebrate different forms of success with award categories such as:
These categories reflect the Future Space Engineer activity proposed for students aged 11 to 16.
This activity helps students understand that successful engineering is not only about the final result. It is also about applying concepts, using evidence, explaining decisions and collaborating effectively.
Launch your engineering project:
Find your water-rocket equipment.
Planning a safe and successful launch
Every exciting launch begins with careful preparation. Before using water-rocket equipment:
You can also make the activity more environmentally friendly by using reusable equipment, collecting all materials after the session and recycling suitable classroom craft materials.
Clear responsibilities help the session run smoothly. Consider assigning pupils roles such as mission controller, equipment checker, data recorder, observer and presenter.
World Space Week offers an ideal opportunity to move science beyond the page. Whether younger pupils are planning an imaginative planetary adventure or secondary students are calculating altitude and evaluating data, water rocketry makes scientific concepts visible, active and memorable.
Choose one activity for a lesson, combine several into a STEM day or use all seven across World Space Week. Each launch can help pupils ask questions, test ideas, measure performance and understand the relationship between design and results.
Most importantly, practical rocketry shows pupils that science is something they can do. Every prediction, calculation, observation and redesign becomes part of their own journey of exploration.
World Space Week takes place from 4 to 10 October. Learn more at World Space Week. The attached campaign brief also recommends a consistent call to action inviting schools to get their water-rocket equipment.
Are you World Space Week ready?
Engage, excite and enthuse your pupils with practical rocketry in your school.
Contacting us is easy, simply complete the form below.
Standard delivery ships in 2-4 working days.
Please allow up to 4 weeks for international orders to arrive (we are working very hard to reduce this time).
FREE on all orders over £25.00;
£3.95 for orders under £25.00;
