Children have taken their imagination to infinity and beyond as part of a competition to dream up the future of space travel.

The US-based Space Foundation, whose mission is “to advance space-related endeavours to inspire, enable and propel humanity”, received entries from more than 7,000 children aged between 3 and 18 for its annual international student art contest.

Original artwork was submitted on the theme of “My Spaceship Looks Like...” from students eager to depict their flights of fancy past the final frontier.

Winners included Stephanie Chen, aged 16, from Jericho High School in New York, US, who picked up a Space Foundation achievement award for her Chuck Taylor-inspired space boots, which included space-age design and tiny wings.

Other successful entrants included Endri Zavalani, a homeschooled child from Albania, who won second prize in the ages 3-4 category for the picture of a spaceship he created entirely from pinecones and other foliage, and Zi Lu Wang, a student at the Absolute Fine Art Studio in Corona, California, who triumphed in the ages 13-14 category for his portrait of a zeppelin- and pirate ship-inspired spacecraft.

The full gallery of winning entries, which may well blast off some creativity in your own students, can be found at the Space Foundation website.

Questions for debate and discussion

1. Why is it important to link subjects like art and science together?
2. How might competitions like this make an impact on space exploration in the future?
3. If you could design a spaceship, what special features would it have to make it safe, effective and cool?
4. Some people argue that space exploration is a waste of money. Do you agree? Why or why not?

Relevant resources

Space art
Use the works of Peter Thorpe to inspire a creative lesson on space-themed art with your class.

Food in space
Watch this video with your class to find out about the food eaten by astronauts to keep them healthy in space.

Build a spaceship
This engaging cross-curricular lesson allows students to design a spaceship and practise instructional writing too.

Space mission
Get creative in science with this fun and educational lesson in which students plan their own space mission.