Solar System Activities
Explore the Solar System with these hands-on activities!
Our Solar System is made up of the Sun and all the smaller objects that move around
it, including eight planets, at least five dwarf planets, tens of thousands of asteroids,
and billions of comets. Discover the scale of the Solar System, what makes each planet
unique, and how scientists explore far-away worlds!
Activities
Note: PDFs meet accessibility standards. If you encounter any issues, please contact us at ua-museumlearn@alaska.edu.
- Comet on a Stick: Create a comet from craft materials.
- How Many Moons? For younger learners, explore the Solar System’s moons through counting and beading.
- Mars Rovers: Learn how scientists & engineers use robotic rovers to explore distant worlds. Players acting as "Mission Control" and a "Rover" work together to navigate a large obstacle course.
- Make a Model Solar System: Build your own model of the Solar System out of craft materials.
- Make a Planet Mask: Explore the eight unique planets in our Solar System by making a mask.
- Model the Sun/Earth System: For older children, calculate and measure out a scale model of the distances of planets in the solar system.
- Night Sky Planet Watch: Enjoy looking for planets in the night sky!
- Out Of This World Art: Make Solar System artwork with crayons, watercolors, and salt.
- Pack to Travel to Mars: Imagine you are traveling to Mars. What objects you would take on the two and a half year journey?
- Pocket Solar System: Make a scale model of Earth's neighborhood and discover the distance between planets.
- Puffy Paint Planets: Explore planet colors and textures with puffy paint.
- Solar System Balloon Stamps: Make your own Solar System using balloons and paint.
- Solar System Matching Game: Discover the Solar System with a matching game!
- Spinning Around the Sun: For younger learners, act out how the Sun, Earth, and Moon rotate and orbit.
Video: UAF Planet Walk
Discover fun facts about our solar system on this guided tour.
This video was made for the museum by members of the UAF Society of Physics Students.
Thank you!
Return to Space Science Activities homepage.
This project was funded under NASA cooperative agreement NNX16AL65A and cooperative agreement number NNH15ZDA004C. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.