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Making a solar system out of play dough is a great hands-on science activity that will help your child remember the order of the planets in relation to the sun. How you lay it out is up to you. You will need: 2 x Play Doh rainbow starter packs ($5ea) 2 x quantities of homemade no-cook play dough (yellow) 1 x A2 sheet of black paper or cardboard a ruler The most difficult thing about making a model of the solar system is the sheer scale of the sun versus the planets. Spoiler alert: the sun is actually too huge to put in your model. (At the scale in the picture, with the earth at 1.5cm diameter, the sun would be one metre in diameter and you don't want to be making THAT much yellow play dough, do you?) So this is an approximate model of the solar system so you can demonstrate: how the planets are placed around the sun in their orbits the distances from the sun in order, from closest to farthest a rough scale of the smallest planet (Pluto) to the largest (Jupiter) There is some conjecture around whether or not Pluto is a planet. We've gone with the assumption that it IS a planet. So it's in our model. The most important factors for making a solar system are: the relative sizes of the planets their approximate distances from the sun To make a viable model, (that can be carried into the classroom) start with Earth at 1.5cm diameter and build outwards from there. Here are some rough sizings to go by, the planets are listed in order, from closest to the sun, to farthest. 1. Mercury 0.6cm 2. Venus 1.4cm 3. Earth 1.5cm 4. Mars 0.8cm 5. Jupiter 16.5cm 6. Saturn 14cm 7. Uranus 6cm 8. Neptune 5.5cm 9. Pluto 0.3cm Another thing to consider is the colours of the planets. Just to simplify the matter, we used hotter colours closer to the sun, with cooler colours as the planets got further away. This is not necessarily accurate but helps when you're putting your planets in order. Earth is then most easily identifiable by its green and blue patterns of land and water. Create each planet out of dough and then lay out your solar system on the black piece of card. You could lay it out in a linear model (in the picture above) or in a circular formation (see video) Hints and tips: Leave Jupiter to last and use whatever dough you have spare to create a mish mash that is big enough Use your double quantity of homemade yellow dough for the sun If you are creating a linear model, add in the edge of the sun only to imply how big it really is (see image above) A circular model is a great way to get a sense of where all the planets sit in orbit Make Saturn's rings with a 'snake' of play dough looped around the planet Laying out the planets in order will lead to lots of questions from your child, you may need to Google some answers! You'll find an easy no-cook play dough recipe here: http://www.kidspot.com.au/kids-activities-and-games/Craft-activities+1/Easy-no-cook-play-dough-recipe+11330.htm Full details on Kidspot.com.au - http://www.kidspot.com.au/kids-activities-and-games/Play-dough-games+21/Play-dough-solar-system+13235.htm Be sure to visit the Kidspot website for fun activities for kids, easy crafts, rainy day activities, dress ups, colouring pages, party games and science experiments Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/user/kidspotaustralia Join the fun on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KidspotAustralia https://www.facebook.com/KidspotAustralia Twitter: https://twitter.com/KidspotSocial Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/kidspot/ Google+ :https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/106554061156673425177/+kidspot/posts