Today, students learned the order of the planets and gained some clarity of the size of the solar system. I challenged them to go home and try this activity with their parents.
Materials needed: 24” or 36” piece of register tape and a pencil
1) Place the paper on your desk in front of you vertically. In very small letters write “Sun” on
the very top edge of the strip and “Pluto” on the very bottom edge. Encourage students to use
small letters and not circles to depict the pictures. See the note below about Pluto’s “Dwarf
2) Fold the strip of paper in half, crease it and open it up again. Label the crease with the
object in the Solar System that you think is half way between the Sun and Pluto. You may want
to write M, V, E, M, J, S, U, N, P on the board to remind them or put up the planet if this is a
3) Write in the rest of the planets on the strip of paper. Make sure you keep them in order and
keep their relative locations where you think they should be.
5) Share and compare your Solar System with a partner.
What did you put in the middle? Did you and your partner have similar answers? Now you are going to make the “real” Solar System.
6) Turn the strip over and write “Sun” and “Pluto” again. Also, refold the strip creasing it in the
7) Open it up and on the fold, write “Uranus.”
8) Fold the strip from Pluto to Uranus and write “Neptune.”
9) Fold the strip from Sun to Uranus and write “Saturn.”
10) Fold the strip from Sun to Saturn and write “Jupiter.”
11) Fold the strip from Sun to Jupiter and write “Asteroid Belt.”
12) Fold the strip from Sun to Asteroid Belt and write “Mars.”
13) Fold the strip from Sun to Mars and write “Venus.”
14) Write “Mercury” in between Sun and Venus. Ask the students what planet is missing and
15) Write “Earth” in between Venus and Mars.
16) Compare the “real” solar system with the one on the back. How close were you?
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