The Solar System Adventure

Take your students on an exciting adventure through Our Neighborhood in Space with this engaging, 15-page visual resource! This unit introduces the Sun and all eight planets in a clear, fun, and easy-to-understand format. It is perfectly suited for early elementary science or space units.

Key Features of the Resource:

The Sun: Our Super Hot Star: Explains that the Sun is a giant ball of hot gas, the center of our system, and provides light and heat.

The Solar System Defined: Describes the Solar System as the Sun and everything that travels around it, including 8 amazing planets.

The Inner Planets (The Rocky Bunch): Details the four planets closest to the Sun (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars), noting they are small, solid, and rocky.

Mercury: The fastest planet, closest to the Sun, covered in craters.

Venus: The hottest planet and Earth’s “twin” in size, known for thick, poisonous clouds.

Earth: Our home, the planet with liquid water and known life.

Mars: The Red Planet, featuring the solar system’s tallest volcano and explored by rovers.

The Outer Planets (The Gas & Ice Giants): Describes the huge, far-away planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune) made mostly of gas and ice.

Jupiter: The largest planet, with a giant red storm and over 90 moons.

Saturn: Famous for its brilliant rings of ice and rock and is very light (could float in water).

Uranus: Spins on its side, made of ice, methane, and gas, giving it a blue-green color.

Neptune: The windy, cold, blue giant, and the farthest from the Sun.

Mnemonic Device: Includes a fun, easy-to-remember mnemonic to help students recall the order of the planets.

Engaging Activities (Page 15): Features three hands-on tasks: Draw Your Favorite Planet, Build a Solar System mobile, and Write a Postcard from space.