Teach children about the solar system with this fun and interactive classroom activity idea!
Perfect for elementary school science lessons, download our free printable planets to create a bright and colorful classroom display that lets schoolchildren take it in turns sticking the planets in the correct order!
WHAT YOU NEED
- Free printable planets
- Thin white card (to make the printables more sturdy)
- VELCRO® Brand Sticky Back Coins
- Colorful A1 card for the background
WHAT TO DO
Start by setting up your display background. We used a bright blue piece of A1 card.
Next, cut out all the printables and stick the sun and the title of the display on with glue as they’ll stay fixed in place for the whole activity.
Mount each printable planet onto cardboard to make it more sturdy. Then take a pack of VELCRO® Brand Sticky Back Coins and stick the soft side of a coin (the loop side) onto the back of each planet.
Next, stick the other side of each coin (the hook side) in position on the display (to make sure you have enough space around each planet, it’s a good idea to plan out where each one needs to go before you stick anything down).
The correct order of the planets is:
- Mercury (closest to the sun)
- Venus
- Earth
- Mars
- Jupiter
- Saturn
- Uranus
- Neptune
- Pluto (furthest from the sun and no longer an official planet!)
A good mnemonic for remembering the order of the planets is: My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas. Why not ask your class to try making up their own?
And that’s it! Your solar system classroom activity is ready for your students to try their hand at putting the planets in the correct order!
And when you’re done, it’ll make a brilliant space-themed display for your classroom wall!
Let us know if you try out this science activity idea and for even more classroom activity ideas, check out:
