Model of our Solar System

DIY model of our Solar System

I have always found the thought of the universe as infinite very difficult to grasp. How can something be infinite? It must have a beginning and an end, does it not? But then if it does -what’s beyond that? Nothing??

When I looked up the word “universe” on Wikipedia, this is what I found:

The universe is defined as “the totality of existence”, or everything that exists, everything that has existed and everything that will exist.

WOW!!

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Assignment

At least once during my children’s time in Lower Elementary they have received a homeschool packet including research and making a model of our solar system. My children really like learning about our solar system, as this is a very fascinating subject. It is hard to understand that the Earth is not the center of the universe. Even the ancient Greek believed the universe to be geocentric.

We started our project by turning to one of our best friends, Pinterest. There, we found a variation of ideas and as usual we ended up using a mix of them. I wanted to have them make a hands-on model, but also show some written material in addition.

Materials needed

• letter sized paper
• crayons and/or pens and pencil
• big piece of black felt
• white puffy fabric paint
• some construction or cardboard paper
• scissors
• glue
• foam balls in various sizes
• acrylic paint and paint brushes
• adhesive Velcro dots
• small rocks

Booklet

We started by making a small booklet about the planets of our solar system. I found this idea at “You know we are an art family”. I made a booklet the size of a quarter of a letter sized paper and my daughter made her own pictures of the planets. Then we looked up one interesting fact about each planet that she wrote next to the picture. I downloaded an app called Solar Walk, which had some additional cool information. It also shows how the planets are located in comparison to each other in the solar system.

The planets and their paths

The idea of the planets and their black felt background I also saw on Pinterest here. This link seem to no longer be working, but the page “Montessori print shop” still exists.

The Sun and Planets

• Looking at pictures, we decided the different sizes of foam balls to use for planets. These are not going to be the exact sizes of course, but we did our best comparing them to each other (for example Pluto is tiny, Neptune is bigger than the Earth, Jupiter is the biggest and so on).
• Then my daughter painted the planets with acrylic paints, trying to make them look like they do on pictures.
• I printed out small name tags for each planet and the sun, which we glued to each one of them.
• Finally we added Velcro dots to make the planets attachable to their path on the solar system felt background.
• In order to create Saturn’s ring system, we cut a foam ball in half, glued a paper circle in the middle and then glued it all back together.
• We cut the sun in half, to make it stay in the middle, as all the other planets are movable around it.
• My daughter collected small rocks she spread out to mark the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Background

• I bought a big piece (the wider, the better) of black felt at Joann’s. I cut it slightly longer than it was wide, as to have room to display the booklet on it as well.
• Leaving some room in the middle for a big sun, I marked 9 (we wanted to include Pluto as well) circular paths for the planets with a white fabric marker on the black felt.
• Then we squeezed out white puffy fabric paint on the paths. This was a bit tricky, so I had to do most of it.

Presentation

Both my daughters made this model of the solar system and both times their teacher asked to keep the model in class for a few weeks, so the kids would be able to use it learning about the planets at school. It is very hands-on, as the kids can place the planets on the correct paths and move them around. Even though the proportions are not exact, they do give an idea on what planets are bigger or smaller as well. If you are interested in teaching the comparable distances between the planets in our solar system, THIS kinesthetic learning activity might be be for you! The kids themselves represent the planets and are put out on a large field at various distances. You would need a large area to be able to do this though.

There are tons of educational books, apps and fun ideas out there for you to explore together with your kids! Have fun with it!

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