While watching the Planets Song (Animated Music Video), students learn about the order of planets in our solar system as well as cool facts about each planet.
This solar system activity is a Space Race game where 2nd to 5th Grade students spin, write and color the eight planets in order. Includes trivia cards, practice and answer key.
While listening to the Planets Song (MP3), students learn about the order of planets in our solar system as well as cool facts about each planet.
In this solar system sequencing planets activity, kindergarten to 5th grade students put the eight planets in order from the Sun and match their names. Answer key included.
This Uranus Planet Worksheet gives 5th graders a fact file about the seventh planet, six sentences to complete and three questions to answer in writing. An answer key is included, so space science needs no prep.
This Is Pluto a Planet? Reading Comprehension Worksheet gives 5th graders a two-page science article and six questions about one real scientific debate. An answer key is included, so close reading practice is ready in minutes.
Orbits, gravity and one little Pluto
Fifth graders learn that the planets orbit the sun because of gravity, the same pull that keeps their feet on the ground. They compare the rocky inner planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars) with the gas and ice giants beyond the asteroid belt. They also connect Earth's motion to daily life: one spin makes a day, one trip around the sun makes a year. The sun is a star, and it looks bigger and brighter than other stars only because it's so much closer. The click is when kids realize gravity is doing all the work.
Space is huge, so we make it small enough to hold. These three moves always land.
Start the unit with the planets song and have kids hold planet cards in order across the front of the room. Play it again as the planets "orbit" around a student sun. The order sticks, and it's a great brain break.
Why it works: a catchy, repeating tune gives the brain a hook to hang words on, so sung text is remembered better (Wallace, 1994).
Try it withPlanets Song (Animated Music Video)SongsOpen it →Head outside with a roll of toilet paper and let one square stand for a set distance. Lay out the planets in order and watch kids gasp at how far Neptune is. Back inside, they record what surprised them.
Why it works: going from real objects to pictures to symbols is a core recommendation of the U.S. Department of Education's elementary math guide.
Try it withSolar System ActivityActivitiesOpen it →Read about Pluto and model a claim with evidence: "Pluto is a dwarf planet because it hasn't cleared its orbit." Then let partners debate and write their own claim. It's science and writing in one lesson.
Why it works: handing over the work step by step, from teacher to student, is one of the most widely used teaching frameworks (Pearson and Gallagher, 1983).
Try it withIs Pluto a Planet? Reading Comprehension WorksheetWorksheetsOpen it →Out-of-this-world fun for your space lovers:
ActivitiesMix up the planet cards and race to put them in order from the sun. Then try it backwards!
Open Solar System Sequencing Planets Activity →
SongsPut the planets song on in the car or during cleanup and see who can name every planet.
Open Planets Song (MP3) →
WorksheetsUranus spins on its side! Kids read about it and draw what a day there might look like.
Open Uranus Planet Worksheet →Teacher favorites right now: Planets Song (Animated Music Video), Solar System Activity and Planets Song (MP3).
They learn the order and features of the planets, that gravity keeps planets in orbit around the sun, and how Earth's spin and orbit cause days, years and changing shadows.
No. In 2006 astronomers reclassified Pluto as a dwarf planet because it shares its orbit with many other icy objects. There are eight planets in our solar system.
Try a silly sentence like "My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nachos" for Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. A song works great too.
Because it's much closer to us. The sun is an average-sized star, but every other star is so far away it looks like a tiny point of light.
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