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.
A hands-on day and night worksheet where 3rd graders read Sun and Earth diagrams, finish science sentences from a word box, and explain what makes it dark. Answer key included for quick, no-prep review.
Students use the Earth Planet Worksheet to read a six-fact file about our planet, complete word-bank sentences, and write full-sentence answers. Built for 3rd Grade with an answer key included.
This Mercury Planet Worksheet gives 3rd graders a fact file about the first planet from the Sun, then four word-bank sentences and three written answers. Answer key included for fast, no-prep solar system practice.
A Saturn planet worksheet for 3rd grade that pairs a short Saturn fact file with word-bank sentences and two written questions. Answer key included, so students can check their own solar system facts.
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.
This Mars planet worksheet hands 3rd graders a kid-friendly fact file, then asks them to name Mars facts and explain one in writing. Answer key included for confident, no-prep science practice.
This Venus Planet Worksheet gives 3rd Grade students a short fact box, fill-in-the-blank sentences, bubble questions, and a written response, with an answer key included, so learning about Venus feels clear and doable.
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.
This Solar System Crossword Puzzle gives 3rd graders ten clues about the Sun, the planets, orbits, and telescopes to solve with no word bank. An answer key is included, so space vocabulary practice takes no prep.
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.
Space flash cards with bright pictures of the sun, moon, planets and more help kindergarten to 4th grade students learn space words and facts. An answer key is included.
Hot, cold, rocky, gassy, and one just right
Third graders get to know each planet as its own world. Mercury is closest to the sun and has almost no air. Venus is the hottest, wrapped in thick clouds. Mars is red and rocky, Jupiter is the biggest, Saturn has the brightest rings, and Uranus and Neptune are icy giants. They also learn how Earth's spin makes day and night, and how its trip around the sun takes one year. The click comes when kids realize Earth is the only planet we know of with liquid water and life, and they can explain why its distance from the sun matters.
Each planet has a personality. These moves help kids remember who's who.
Start science with the planets song and have kids point to each planet on a classroom chart as it's sung. After a few days, sing it with pauses and let the class fill in the missing planet. Fun, fast and memorable.
Why it works: words set to a repeating melody are easier to recall than the same words spoken (Wallace, 1994).
Try it withPlanets Song (MP3)SongsOpen it →Assign each group a planet like Mercury. They read a fact sheet and create a "planet passport" with size, temperature and one wow fact. Then groups present so everyone learns all eight.
Why it works: pairing a picture with each word gives kids two ways to remember it, a well-tested principle of how people learn (Mayer, 2009).
Try it withMercury Planet WorksheetWorksheetsOpen it →Kids build a hanging or paper model of the solar system, placing planets in order. Ask, "Why are the inner planets rocky?" Building the model helps kids remember order and distance.
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 →Planet activities that send imaginations into orbit.
WorksheetsUse a flashlight and a globe to see how Earth's spin makes day and night.
Open Day and Night Worksheet →
WorksheetsDiscover why Venus is hotter than Mercury even though it's farther from the sun.
Open Venus Planet Worksheet →
Flash CardsFlip space cards to name planets, stars and other objects in our sky.
Open Space Flash Cards →Teacher favorites right now: Planets Song (Animated Music Video), Day and Night Worksheet and Earth Planet Worksheet.
They learn the eight planets in order, how inner and outer planets differ, key facts about each planet, and how Earth's rotation and orbit cause day, night and years.
Venus is the hottest planet, even though Mercury is closer to the sun. Venus has thick clouds that trap heat like a blanket.
Earth spins on its axis once every 24 hours. The side facing the sun has day, and the side facing away has night.
Jupiter is the biggest planet. More than 1,000 Earths could fit inside it, and it has a giant storm called the Great Red Spot.
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