I better post these photos from our Solar System study this summer. The boys and I had such a blast learning about the different planets and the stars. I think their favorite part was remembering planets in order with the ol' "My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas!" (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto) Yes, we know, there's some big controversy over whether or not Pluto is even a planet, but that doesn't stop us:) Whether it's a moon or a planet, it's there, right?
Note: We bought one of those standard solar system kits (from Michaels), but since it's difficult, not to mention boring, to paint styrofoam balls, we covered ours with a salt dough mixture (See Below for recipe) and let it dry completely before painting it. Big difference from what the box shows to do and what we accomplished! I'm so proud of my boys:)
Salty Map Dough (adapted from the Ultimate Book of Kid Concoctions):
1 1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 c. salt
1 1/8 c. warm water
- Mix flour and salt together in large bowl.
- Slowly stir in water until mixture is the consistency of sticky bread dough. (We ended up adding a little extra water so the mixture was more like a paste to spread onto the styrofoam balls.)
- Use immediately!
- Allow to dry completely before painting.
Note: This recipe makes more than you will need for the solar system model, but it's better to have more then not enough! Also, we used acrylic paints to paint ours, plus we added an irridescent glitter to Saturn's rings. Lastly, we recommend using a hot glue gun for adherring the planets to the wire...craft glue was not secure enough to last for any amount of time.
