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A Fun School or Syndicate Challenge for All Ages:

Curriculum: Making Sense of Planet Earth and Beyond.

(Courtesy Tony Fisher, Education Officer, Carter Observatory, Wellington, New Zealand)

In this activity we make a scale model of the sun and compare its size with the planets of the solar system.

Before beginning, have children conduct some research to find out …

- the names of all the planets in our solar system
- the order of the planets from the sun
- order the planets from largest to smallest

First make a line of 109 children. This represents the scale diameter of the Sun.

Now get the children to form a circle of that diameter line.

Small groups of children now form each of the planets.

1. 11 children in a circle to represent Jupiter
2. 9 children for Saturn
3. 4 children for Uranus
4. 4 children for Neptune
5. 1 large child represents earth
6. 1 large child represents Venus
7. A medium sized child represents Mars
8. A slightly smaller child represents Mercury
9. The smallest child in the school represents Pluto.

Prepare name labels to attach to each planet.

Get each of the ‘Planets’ to stand inside the circle of the Sun.

Take pictures from above the model. Better still, ask your local newspaper to take a picture of your model and get some well deserved publicity for your school.

For older children, talk about the difference between two and three dimensions. Point out that this is only a two dimensional model of the sun and planets.

Explain that if we were able to make a sphere or ball of the diameter circle of 109 children, this would give us a better idea of the scale.

Ask the children to guestimate how many Earths would fit inside the sun? (1,300,000)