If you have ever looked at a picture of the solar system in a book, you have probably seen those neat diagrams with all eight planets lined up in a perfect row. They look beautiful, but they give you a slightly wrong idea about space. In reality, the planets are not neatly lined up, they are all in different positions, moving in giant circles around the Sun at different speeds. The best way to really feel how the solar system works is to build one yourself. And the good news is that you do not need a science lab to do it. Your kitchen table will do just fine.
This activity works best for kids aged 5 and above, but younger children will love doing it alongside a parent. It takes about 45 minutes to an hour, and the finished model looks brilliant hanging on a wall or from the ceiling of a bedroom. Let us get started.
What You Will Need
You will need ten polystyrene or thermocol balls in different sizes, or if you cannot find those, you can use crumpled newspaper balls wrapped in tape. You will also need poster colours or acrylic paints, a set of paintbrushes, string or thick thread, a wire hanger or a long stick to hang everything from, some glue, and a black marker for adding details. If you want to get creative, you can also use glitter for the rings of Saturn.
Building Your Solar System
Start with the Sun. Take your largest ball and paint it bright yellow and orange. Do not make it one flat colour. Swirl the yellow and orange together while the paint is still wet to give it that fiery look. The Sun is not a smooth calm ball. It is a churning, swirling star, so the messier your painting, the better it looks.
While the Sun dries, take your remaining nine balls and arrange them from smallest to largest. Mercury is the tiniest, about the size of a marble in your model. Venus and Earth should be similar in size and slightly bigger than Mercury. Mars is a little smaller than Earth. Then there is a big jump: Jupiter is the giant, your second largest ball after the Sun. Saturn comes next, and this is the fun one because you need to cut a ring out of cardboard and paint it golden before sliding it around Saturn's middle. Uranus and Neptune are medium sized and should be painted icy blue.
Paint each planet in its real colours. Mercury is a dull grey. Venus is a creamy yellowish white. Earth is blue and green with white swirly clouds, the most beautiful one of all. Mars is reddish orange. Jupiter has those famous brown and cream stripes with the big red spot, which is actually a storm that has been going on for hundreds of years. Saturn is a pale golden yellow. Uranus is a soft icy blue, and Neptune is a deeper, darker blue.
Once everything is dry, cut pieces of string in different lengths and tie one end around each planet. Attach the other ends to your hanger or stick, with the Sun at the center and the planets spreading outward in order. Mercury should hang on the shortest string, closest to the Sun, and Neptune on the longest string, furthest away. Hang your finished model from a ceiling hook or a doorway and watch your very own solar system sway gently in the breeze.
What To Talk About While You Build
The best part of this activity is the conversation it starts. While you are painting Jupiter, ask your child why it is so much bigger than the other planets. While you are making Saturn's rings, mention that those rings are made of billions of pieces of ice and rock. While you string up the planets, point out how much bigger the gap between the inner planets and the outer ones really is. In the real solar system, if the Sun were the size of a basketball, Neptune would be more than 300 metres away. Your model will not show this true scale, but it is a wonderful thing to imagine together.
When the model is finished, it does not just become a decoration. Every time your child looks up at it, they are looking at their address in space: third planet from the Sun, in a solar system with eight planets, orbiting an ordinary star. That is not a bad thing to be reminded of every morning.