Optional Activities
Additional Activities for Younger Learners
- Galaxy Sensory Bin: Black beans or dark blue rice base. Add spherical objects in various sizes (marbles, pom-poms, or balls) to stand in for plants. Ask: "Which planets are close to the sun?" "Can you make a planet orbit the sun?"
- Solar System Mobile: This printable activity allows you to model our solar system in a way that’s applicable to younger learners. Alternatively you could create a low-cost version with household items (playdough, foam balls, bottle caps, paper circles, etc) or purchase a more detailed kit from most hobby stores.
Digging Deeper Activities
- Model the Solar System to Scale: Discuss how far the planets truly are from each other by building a scale model of our universe.
- Berkley.edu uses toilet paper squares to measure theirs
- NASA JPL Lab’s is a bit more advanced but could be scaled down
- Solar to Scale: This is an interactive website where you can explore not only how far the planets are from each other, but also how big they are in comparison to each other. 1 pixel represents 1000 kms.
https://tinybop.com/apps/space
.*This is the information a friend wrote and is okay with me posting here, but I 100% LOVE this app and recommend it to you throughly*
Space is an interactive exploration of the Sun and eight planets—Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune—designed for curious kids aged roughly 6–8+.
What You Can Do:
- Hurl meteorites at planets to study atmospheres and gravity
- Spin Saturn’s rings, observe planet orbits, and launch the Curiosity rover on Mars
- Peek inside planetary layers, test surface conditions, and see why Mercury is cratered
What You Can Learn:
- Compare size, mass, rotation, and day length across planets
- Track the Moon’s phases and adjust Earth’s axis to explore seasons
- Discover unexpected phenomena—like diamonds on Neptune!
Why It’s Great:
- No ads, no third‑party tracking—designed for safe family use
- Trusted by educators and kids: Editor’s Choice and awarded “Best App for Older Children” by KAPi
- Comes with a free Space Handbook for parents and teachers, offering tips, facts, and discussion starters (look at the bottom of the website link!!!!)
Space is a beautifully illustrated, playful, and scientifically rich app that invites kids to explore the solar system through open-ended, discovery-based interaction, making learning both fun and memorable.