American Museum of Natural History
Cosmic Cookies
Scholars read about each planet then bake a plate of cosmic cookies—no-bake cookies decorated to look like the planets; Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.
PBS
The Planets of the Solar System
Launch a lesson that's sure to capture middle schoolers' interest! Exploration enthusiasts examine the planets of our solar system using an activity from PBS's Space series. The resource includes images and information for each planet,...
Space Awareness
Know Your Planets
Does your class know their planets? Implement an activity that has them describing the solar system, identifying properties of the planets, and placing them in order from their distance from the sun.
Research Parent
Solar System Cards
Find all things solar system in a set of reference cards. Even Pluto makes an appearance! Each of the 24 cards has a picture and accompanying informational text that gives brief background about the object.
SciShow Kids
Let's Make the Solar System
Get crafty with the help of pictures and a real-time demonstration from a video that details the step-by-step process in creating a paper solar system.
Star Date
Solar System Scale Model Demonstration
Explore outer space and decorate your classroom with an astronomy project. Learners create a visual model with the creation of a scaled solar system using different sized balls.
Star Date
Astronomy Day from McDonald Observatory Solar System Scale Activity
Add a visual aid to your solar system lessons. Enthusiastic astronomers create a model depicting the nine planets and their distance from the sun.
TLS Books
Neptune
Did you know that Neptune is named after the Roman god of the sea? Young astronomers read about this and other facts about the eighth planet from the sun in a short informational text passage.
Voyage Solar System
Round and Round We Go — Exploring Orbits in the Solar System
Math and science come together in this cross-curricular astronomy lesson plan on planetary motion. Starting off with a hands-on activity that engages the class in exploring the geometry of circles and ellipses, this lesson plan then...
Center for Math and Science Education
Pocket Solar System
How in the world can something as big as the solar system possibly fit in your pocket? Complete this simple modeling activity and find out, as young scientists gain an appreciation for the incredible scale of outer space.
Center for Math and Science Education
Solar System Launch
Trying to understand the vastness of outer space can be quite a challenge for young scientists. Help put things in perspective with this cross-curricular activity as students work in pairs creating scaled models of the solar system,...
Simply Worksheets
Solar System - Identifying Planets
For this space science worksheet, students read the five descriptions of various planets and match the description with the picture of the planet.
Curated OER
Earth Science
A slide for each of the planets (including recently downgraded Pluto), the sun, our moon, four of Jupiter's moons, and the rings of Saturn make up this visually appealing PowerPoint. A few facts for each body in the solar system...
Curated OER
Characteristics of the Outer Planets
A brief reading comprehension exercise, this worksheet covers the characteristics of the outer planets. It still considers Pluto a planet and Charon its moon. It is therefore a little out of date, but this fact can be discussed as part...
Curated OER
The Outer Planets
In this outer planets activity, students determine if 15 statements about Neptune, Pluto, Saturn and Uranus are true or false. If they are false, students change the italicized words in the sentences to make the statements true.
Curated OER
Solar System
In this online interactive Solar System worksheet, students access a specific website to locate the multiple choice answers to 4 questions dealing with the Solar System. Students answer 3 short answer questions and draw a line connecting...
Curated OER
Email From Another Planet
In this article about emails and plants worksheet, students read short descriptions about 8 planets in the solar system and then imagine they are visiting one of the planets and send an email to a family member describing their...
Curated OER
Mythical Beasts
Students explore literature and art forms containing creatures that are part human and part animal, such as the Greek Sphinx, Neptune, or the Green Centaur. Individually, students write a poem or short story to create a character with...
Curated OER
Religion in Rome
Delve into ancient Roman religion using this informational graphic organizer! Historical context begins with brief descriptions of the gods Mars, Jupiter, and Neptune. The images may lack authenticity here. They then read about how...
Curated OER
Neptune
In this Neptune learning exercise, 4th graders learn facts about the planet Neptune and read a short paragraph about the planet. Students enhance their understanding of planets.
Curated OER
Planets
In this planets worksheet, students access a website and record two unique facts about each planet in 1 graphic organizer. Then students go explore different sections of the website and answer 6 short answer questions.
![Story Behind the Science: The Discovery of Neptune [Pdf] Activity](https://d15y2dacu3jp90.cloudfront.net/images/attachment_defaults/resource/large/FPO-knovation.png "Story Behind the Science: The Discovery of Neptune [Pdf] Activity")
Story Behind the Science
Story Behind the Science: The Discovery of Neptune [Pdf]
The scientific history behind the discovery of the planet Neptune.
Harvard University
Harvard University: The Solar System
These hands-on activities are a great way for students to gain perspective on the relative sizes and distances of each planet, the relationship between the sun and Earth, and much more.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Our Solar System Lithograph Set
View these amazing high-quality images of our solar system from NASA with this lithograph set. Each lithograph contains images, facts, dates, and general information on a particular subject. Background information and teaching tips are...