Solar System Art

Solar System Art Project

This is a well loved, super fun, and visually satisfying planet activity!  We have 9 different colors of pom pom balls for the main planets (including Pluto), a small, white one for Earth's moon, and a small brown one for Jupiter's spot.  There are plastic bracelets for Saturn's rings and we cut out half circles and put orange, sparklie tulle material over it for the suns (we pre-made these).  

Tacky glue works best for this project and we cut black poster board into strips for the night sky.  In addition, we traced a circle to make each planet's elliptical path so the children knew where to glue each planet. (the circle used to trace the hemispheres for the world map worked nicely)   We included the asteroid belt in this.

The pom-pom balls are all different textures and sizes.  We tried to do our best to make it relative to the real planets! 

Moon Exploration Work

Moon Exploration Work 

We are spending a couple of weeks on the moon within our Solar System unit.  We have read many books on the moon, the exploration we've done there, and various facts.  This work is on my practical life shelf. 

I made play-dough with and used my Wilton's frosting dye to make the grey color (I used black)

There are two different sized marbles to make the craters, an American flag, an astronaut and a lunar rover in the basket (these two items are from the space Safari Toobs)

They first make a sphere out of the play-dough to represent the moon's real shape. Then they flatten it out with their hands to form a circle.  Using the marbles they make craters and let the astronaut and the lunar rover explore.

We did put emphasis to not squish the lunar rover or astronaut into the play-dough as it will get all stuck in each crevice!  We have other play-dough on the art shelf to explore with in that way :)

Earth Beads

Earth Beads

This is a very fun project that is great for your geography study, a solar system unit, or Earth Day!  We made these necklaces in preparation for Earth Day as we were going to pick up litter in our town and we wore these on our adventure.

Use Femo or Sculpey Clay (Sculpey is softer and easier for small hands to manipulate).

Put out the colors for land, water, and air.   I also put out the same colors of pony beads.

  

The kids take small pinches of each one and make balls with each.

Make "snakes"

 Twist together

 And roll into a ball!  This is your bead

 Poke a hole ( a paper clip, tack, or pin pusher will do)

I use a muffin tin for a baking pan to separate them all.  If you have a bigger class, use a mini muffin tin.  To keep track I draw a graph on a piece of paper of the circles and write who's is where.

Here's the finished product!