3 Hands-on Ways to Learn about the Solar System

Time to tell you about our latest science kit from the Magic School Bus! My mom purchased a subscription for the Magic School Bus Science Club, and for the past three months we have received a packet from Ms. Frizzle and her students containing experiments and lessons pertaining to a science topic. Thus far we have learned about the weather, made a volcano, and our most recent packet had us learning about the Solar System!

We finished up our Earth & Space Task Cards last month. The last 10+ cards were about the planets and different constellations-- so this kit came at the perfect time. To end this unit with a "bang," we need to make a date to check out our Planetarium! I think that would help bring everything we've talked and read about together.

Hands-on Ways to Learn About Solar System

The Stars and Planets Science kit included activities/ experiments such as:

Start & Planet Fact Book
Creating a Rainbow
Making a Night Vision Flashlight
Constellation Box
Constellation Cards
Solar System Poster
and... a Solar System Model

First up, we made our Star & Planet Fact Booklet. They provided the note cards, facts/ answers, and a ring to hold them all together.

For the Solar System poster, instead of cutting up scraps of paper for the planets, we used the stickers from our book, Planets, instead. Worked out perfectly!

And instead of a constellation box, I made constellation viewers using our stash of paper towel rolls. You can find constellation cards similar to the size of paper tubes in this Starry Night Round-up. These look to be the perfect size to cover the paper towel rolls {I can no longer find the link to the original set I used}. I cut a piece of tin foil bigger than the card, placed the card on top and poked a pin-sized hole through the foil.

Here each paper towel roll contains a constellation from one of the cards. I had T look through the constellation viewer and match it to one of the cards.