Scale Model Solar System

We are currently working through a unit study on Astronomy. This past week we learned about the moon and our solar system. Even though we talked about how small our planet is in comparison to some of the other planets and the sun, I didn't feel like any of us were able to grasp how much smaller Earth is than the sun and some other planets. So, of course, what we needed was a hands-on project!


I absolutely adored this hands-on project because it incorporated so many different academic areas - math, art, science, and critical thinking. I was able to find great inspiration for my project and much needed diameters for the planets and sun here.


We first reviewed the terms diameter and radius (for my youngest, the terms were brand new) and then talked about how to find the diameter of a circle if the radius is known.


I showed my children how to use a drawing compass to make circles of specific sizes. Then, my children all took turns using the drawing compass to make planets using the specific diameters that we found on the internet. A few of the planets were just too small to make with the drawing compass so we marked out the diameter and just did our best to draw a good circle within the diameter.


Then, using planet stickers as a guide, the children all were given different planets to color.

After the children were all finished drawing and coloring their planets, we taped them up in the hall in order from the sun. Then, we measured the scaled diameter of the sun and used masking tape to mark the sun's diameter below the planets. Amber wrote "the sun, the sun, the sun" all the way down the tape. The sun is much bigger in diameter than all of the planets together!Here's Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.Followed by Jupiter and Saturn...and lastly, Uranus, Neptune, and the dwarf planet, Pluto. My youngest asked me how long we were going to leave the solar system up in the hall and I told him I wasn't sure. Actually, it goes very well with the huge United States map and World map that grace the other side. All I need now is a timeline!