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There are a total of nine planets in our system. The inner-most planet is called Mercury. This is followed by Venus and then our Earth. Beyond Earth is an orange-hued planet called Mars. In the outer part of the system are four giant planets called Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. The outermost planet is a small world named Pluto.
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planets and their distance from the Sun. Start by asking about distances kids have traveled. • How many miles is it from home to school? How much time does the trip take?
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- Introduction
- Materials
- What Happened?
- Digging Deeper
- For Further Exploration
- Related Resources
Did you know that the Voyager 2 spacecraft took 12 years to travel from Earth to Neptune, the furthest planet in the solar system? This sounds like a really long time! Maybe not that long if you consider what distance the spacecraft had to travel to get from Earth to Neptune. In this activity, you will make a model of the planets in the solar syste...
Yarn, if possible, in up to 8 different colorsMeasuring tapeThumbtackTwo pieces of cardboard, about 6 cm by 6 cm eachYou probably noticed how the four planets closest to the Sun (Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars) are all much closer to the Sun (at 4, 7, 10, and 15 cm from the Sun in your model) compared to the other four planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune). These last four are much more spread out (at 50, 95, 190, and 300 cm from the Sun in your model)....
Planets are celestial bodies that orbit (or circle around) a star. In our planetary system, this star is the Sun. Planets are not self-luminous, they do not emit light like the stars, but they can be seen in the sky because they reflect light emitted by other celestial objects. The Solar System is the system of objects that orbit the Sun directly o...
Let your planets circle around the Sun at different speeds and see what happens to their relative positions.Calculate how small the planets would need to be to represent them accurately in your shrunken model. You can find the necessary information on the Solar Planet Data Sheet.Make a second model that accurately represents the different sizes of the planets in the solar system. One way to do this is explained in the How Big Are the Planets in Our Solar System?activity.Measure the distances between planets, example between Earth and Neptune. In what position on their orbit do the planets need to be for the distance to be the shortest possible, and in what positio...Links
1. NASA: Solar System Overview 2. National Geographic: Watch This Guy Build a Massive Solar System in the Desert
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Questions to guide explorations and experiments • What is the solar system? • What is a planet? What planets are in the solar system? • Why do the Earth and other planets revolve around (orbit) the Sun? • What else revolves around the Sun? • How big is the solar system? How big are all the planets? Books and activities
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- Edible Solar System Project. Combine learning and fun by making an edible solar system model. Creating an edible solar system model is a fantastic way to combine learning and fun in an interactive and delicious activity.
- Create a 3D Solar System Model. Let’s begin the solar system journey with a hands-on approach by having kids craft their very own 3D model of the solar system.
- Designing a Spacecraft. Inspire your little space explorers to let their imagination soar as they design their very own spacecraft for their solar system project.
- Planets with Playdough. Making planets from playdough is an engaging and educational activity that brings the wonders of the cosmos to life. Kids can mold and shape colorful playdough into different planets, moons, and even the Sun, allowing them to create their mini solar system.
Science • Classifying objects • Movement of planets in the Solar System • Movement of the Moon relative to Earth • Shape of Solar System objects • The Sun is a star Literacy • Ask relevant questions to extend their understanding and knowledge • Give well-structured descriptions, explanations and narratives for different purposes
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How do astronomers measure distances in the Solar System?
How do you show the vast distances between planets?
How do you teach kids about space exploration?
What if we could see our Solar System from a long distance?
Make it clear with diagrams, scaled examples and/or videos (freely available online) that 'zoom out' from Earth, that the second nearest star to Earth is 10 000 times further away from the Sun than Neptune, the most distant planet.
