While there is so much to teach our little ones with this theme, I decided to work on teaching my little guy the names of the planets and their order. I used an anagram and a scavenger hunt around the backyard to explore outer space. These activities are perfect for teaching kindergarteners all about the solar system.
Solar System Activity for Kindergarten Materials:
- Any fruit that can represent the sizes of each planet
- Rocks or stones that can represent the sizes of each planet
- Paint for each planet
- Picture of the painted stones – in order and labeled
Planet Yum!
In order to prepare for this adventure in this solar system activity for kindergarten, I decided to help my little one learn about the sizes of the planets using fruit! It is a healthy snack and really helps them connect and understand this concept by using items they are familiar with.
This was an absolute blast! I used the following:
- Peppercorn for Mercury
- Large blueberry for Venus
- Strawberry for Earth
- Tapioca pearl for Mars
- Cantaloupe for Jupiter
- Grapefruit for Saturn
- Lemon for Neptune
- an Avocado for Uranus
We went through different concepts to help strengthen his understanding. Which is the biggest planet, smallest? What planet is next to Neptune? etc. It wouldn’t be snack time at my house if we didn’t enjoy a piece of Jupiter or Earth!
Rocky Planets
Even though we are at the beginning stages of this journey through space, we know that planets are round. My son reminded me of this several times, but for this activity, I wanted to use something that could be found easily and simply. While our stones aren’t as round as we would have liked, they were just right for this solar system activity for kindergarten.
We went outside to search for stones from our backyard that would be good to represent each planet. I had prepared paint ahead of time in order to stay focused and save a little time. Once we found our stones, we went ahead and painted each planet to create our solar system.
When my Picasso finished painting (and of course, adding a pipe cleaner ring around Saturn!), I took a picture of our solar system and printed it to use as a scavenger hunt for a follow up activity to help my son learn the order.
Scavenger Hunt
I wanted to then teach him the anagram of My Very Excited Mother Just Served Us Nachos. While a bit silly, it was relevant and helped my little one understand the idea of a particular order. I hid the “planets” around our solar system (a.k.a: the backyard) and using the picture I took, my little one went on a journey through space to find the planets and place them in their correct order. We had an exciting adventure finding Jupiter, Earth, Mars, and all the other planets and matching them to their place in the picture.
This solar system activity for kindergarten was a great introduction to this theme and I look forward to revisiting it time and time again as we dig deeper into outer space. There are so many activities and learning opportunities around this theme one lesson would never be enough!
Joanna is a full-time teacher and part-time mompreneur with a personalized and custom gift shop. She has a passion for writing and loves creating wonderful memories for her 3 beautiful children. As a huge fan of Ms. Frizzle from the Magic School Bus, Joanna lives by her biggest lesson: “Take chances, make mistakes, and get messy!” You can find her on Facebook.
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