A Cosmic Education Song for the Montessori Environment — This Pretty Planet
How do you teach young children compassion for others? How do you teach them to take care of the environment and the world around them? How do you teach children that we have only one home, our precious planet earth? One effective method is to appeal to them through song.
A Cosmic Education Song for Circle Time: This Pretty Planet
Spinning through space
You’re a garden, you’re a harbor
You’re a holy place
Golden sun going down
Gentle blue giant
Spin us around
All through the night
Safe till the morning light
-by Tom Chapin
Tom Chapin and John Forster wrote “This Pretty Planet” in 1996. While it never received air time, this short, simple song has inspired and comforted people all around the world. NASA even played “This Pretty Planet” to wake up the space shuttle Discovery 7 astronauts as they traveled through space!
“This Pretty Planet” is a lovely song for children to sing and lends itself beautifully for singing as a round. You can also easily incorporate sign language or hand motions into the song. And it makes a wonderful addition to your daily Montessori routine.
For further resources from Tom Chapin, visit his Teacher’s Page where has additional song lyrics and activities to help you and your students become better citizens of the earth.
