The Solar System

Materials

• Pencil or Pen

• Pocket Solar System Template or a strip of paper at least 84 inches in length (Note: If you are not using the Pocket Solar System template or a strip of paper 84 inches long , do not follow the measurement guides in parentheses.)
• Color pencils, markers, crayons, etc. 
• Glue 
• Scissors
• Ruler 

Activity Directions 

1. Watch the Crash Course video on the solar system linked below. 
2. Test your understanding of the solar system by playing a fun Quizizz game!
3. Perform the pocket solar system activity (Note: The experiment video linked below also walks you through the activity.)
   1. Print out the template and cut the 8 strips along the solid line. Once you have 8 separate strips, apply some glue on the rectangle labeled “Glue and Connect Here” and connect each strip to another one until you get one long continuous strip of paper. (Note: Use caution when using the scissors. Skip this step if you have your own long strip of paper.)
   2. Begin by labeling the Sun at the very beginning of the strip of paper. We will consider this as the starting point for our solar system. 
   3. Then label the Kuiper Belt at the very end of the strip of paper. We will consider this the finishing point of our solar system. 
   4. Fold the strip of paper in half and label the planet Uranus on the crease (Note: Uranus should be 42 inches from the beginning of the paper.)
   5. After labeling Uranus, fold the paper in half twice, once along the crease you made for uranus and one more time to create another crease. When you unfold the paper, you should now see 3 creases. 
      1. On the crease between the Sun and Uranus, label the planet Saturn. (Note: Saturn should be 21 inches from the beginning of the paper) 
      2. On the crease between Uranus and the Kuiper Belt, label the planet Neptune. (Note: Neptune should be labeled 63 inches from the Sun or 21 inches from the Kuiper Belt.)
   6. After labeling Saturn and Neptune, create a fold between the Sun and Saturn. Label this crease Jupiter. (Note: Jupiter should be labeled 10.5 inches from the Sun.)
   7. Add the asteroid belt by folding the paper from the Sun to Jupiter and labeling the crease that forms as the asteroid belt. (Note: The asteroid belt should be labeled 5.25 inches from the Sun.)
   8. Next, create a fold between the Sun and the Asteroid belt and label this crease as Mars. (Note: Mars should be labeled about 2.625 inches from the Sun.)
   9. To label the last 3 planets, create a fold between the Sun and Mars. Then, fold the fold you just made one more time; you should have 3 new creases when you unfold the paper. 
      1. Label the first crease from the Sun as Mercury. (Note: Mercury should be about 0.656 inches away from the Sun.)
      2. Label the second crease from the Sun as Venus. (Note: Venus should be labeled 1.3125 inches away from the Sun.)
      3. Finally, the third crease from the Sun should be labeled as Earth. (Note: Earth should be labeled about 1.96 inches from the Sun.) 
   10. You are done with your pocket solar system! Color and decorate your planets and labels! Look at your solar system and understand how much space there is in space!

​Quizizz Link: https://quizizz.com/join/quiz/5f2ce725edf4f2001c0d2f7f/start?studentShare=true

Suggested Videos: 
​Crash Course Astronomy Video: https://youtu.be/TKM0P3XlMNA         
​Experiment Video: https://youtu.be/9tdp52enuDs

Published 8.7.2020

Author: Rupali Venkatesan