Every now and then the kids completely surprise me with knowledge that I didn’t know they possessed. Earlier this week I had one of those moments. Briana and I were driving to her ballet class and she asked me where we were right now. I think she was getting anxious that, heaven forbid, we were going to miss ballet, though we were actually going to get there a little bit early to catch the end of Abby’s gymnastics class. I jokingly told her, “We’re on Planet Earth.” It was early on a Saturday morning so forgive me a rare snide comment please. J Anyway, I was about to tell Briana what “Planet Earth” meant since I had brought it up, and she interrupted me and said, “I know what Earth means, Mommy. It’s our planet that we live on. I know other planets too. Mars is the next one and it’s very hot. Then Jupiter. That’s the big, big, BIG one. I don’t remember what the next one is. I just like Earth and Mars and Jupiter.”
I was stunned! Planets?! I’m still impressed when someone asks her where she lives and she gets the state right. My husband wasn’t equally as impressed when I told him. He asked if I corrected her that Mars is further from the sun and therefore not hotter than Earth. I tried to defend my not correcting her by saying that most people think that since Mars is red, it’s also hot so she was probably quoting something that someone told her, but mostly I was just so surprised that she knew the word “planet” at all that I didn’t really pay attention to her specifics. I can correct that oversight now.
While the kids slept, I made a mock solar system image without planets on it on Powerpoint and printed out a copy for each of us. Not drawn to scale…even remotely. Then I googled some planet pics and printed out the one below, and cut them out. I also grabbed some tape.
When the kids got up from their naps I told them that I had a fun game. They are excited and sat down quickly. I gave them a snack of pretzels and juice while I set up. We’re going to learn more about all of the planets in the solar system.
I started by asking them to finish the sentence “All planets are orbiting around…” “The Sun” screamed Briana. “The Pretzels” screamed Abby simultaneously. I give Abby credit for her deductive reasoning skills since usually the answer is something I’ve given them already. All of the planets go slowly around the Sun. The closer to the Sun they are, the hotter they are.
I tell the kids stories about each planet that I find interesting. Then each girls tapes that planet to her solar system where it goes:
Mercury is the closest planet to the sun. The fun thing about Mercury is that it is very hot on the side that is close to the sun and very cold on the back. Then we spun around doing the “Mercury Dance” – Abby was the sun and when we faced her we said “Hot side” and when we turned our backs to her we said “Cold side”. I ask the kids if they’d like to live on Mercury. Bree says, “Yes, but only on the hot side. Then I could wear sunglasses all day long.”
Venus is the second planet and it is also very hot. On Venus there are lots of volcanoes and earthquakes. Then we did the “Venus Chair Jumping Game” and pretended to be exploding volcanoes and shaky earthquakes in our chairs. Abby insists that only one planet can exist in the solar system at once, so she takes Mercury off and then puts Venus on. No one can come up with a good reason to live on Venus.
Earth is our planet and it’s the only planet known to have liquid water. Abigail says “Earth is home. Right here.” And puts Earth over the sun as the center of the solar system. Hey, before Galileo isn’t that what everyone thought?
Mars is called the red planet. It is colder than Earth because it is farther from the sun (see, I fixed it!). Everything is lighter on Mars than it is on Earth. We have satellites that go to Mars and take pictures and send the pictures back to Earth scientists so we can see what Mars looks like. Briana asks “Why don’t they just take pictures with their telescopes?” Telescopes?! I’m starting to guess that her teacher at school beat me to explaining planets. I tell her that it’s too far away for the telescopes to take pictures. I also promise to let her look into Grandpa Tony’s telescope when we’re at the shore house this summer.
Jupiter is the largest planet. “I already know about Jupiter, the Big planet.” Bree brags. But did you know that it has a big red spot on it called The Eye of Jupiter? It’s where a giant storm has been going on for 300 years. Could you imagine a storm that never went away? That’s what’s happening on Jupiter’s red spot. Briana decides that if we couldn’t live on Earth, she wants to live on Jupiter. “I love the rain, so I want to live on Jupiter the most. I could go to Jupiter to get the best rain for my flowers and if it keeps raining my flowers would get big, big, big, BIG, and be the biggest flowers you ever did see on Jupiter!” I try to explain that we don’t believe that flowers are growing on Jupiter because it lacks a tangible surface. The sky actually gets thicker and thicker until it becomes the water there so there is no surface that would allow you to ride on a boat, or grow flowers in Jupiter – the sky just becomes the water. Briana wants to see a picture and I don’t have one of the surface of Jupiter, so she counters with “I believe there ARE flowers on Jupiter. And they’re the biggest ones you ever did see because of all of that rain. That’s the deal about Jupiter, Mommy.” Ok then, moving on. I have no proof otherwise, so maybe someday Briana will collect the proof of flowers on Jupiter.
Saturn has dust rings that go around it called the Rings of Saturn. Saturn is also the lightest planet and it would actually be able to float on water if it was on Earth because the whole planet is less dense than our water. Briana likes Saturn a lot. “Well, because Tinkerbell lives there. That’s where Pixie Hollow must be. Tinkerbell lives on Saturn because she loves all that dust. Yeah, that’s what makes her fly – dust. They call it Pixie dust just as a nickname, but it’s really called Saturn Pixie Dust.” Where does she come up with the stuff. I'm having so much fun getting insight into how her mind works today!
Uranus is the only planet that spins on its side. Too many childish jokes spring to mind, none of which I share with the kids. Because it is so cold, some people call it the “Ice Giant”. Briana tells me that she must have already know that because she put Uranus sideways on her picture.
Neptune is the farthest planet from the sun. In it’s atmosphere there is a fast cloud that scoots around the planet quickly so it’s nickname is “Scooter”. Neptune has the strongest winds in the solar system. Abby tells me, “Scooter. That’s silly.” That’s real, Abby. “Mommy’s silly.” she replies. I guess the word Scooter sounds like gibberish to Abigail.
Briana is so excited. I try to corral the kids to go outside for a bit, but Briana insists on talking about more planets first. I add some info about comets and asteroids and Bree adds those to her finished solar system. We also talk about poor, demoted Pluto because Bree really wants to talk about another planet. Then we review the planets we’ve already done and Bree helps Abby get hers right.
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| Briana's final solar system |
I wanted to tell the kids this mnemonic for remembering the planets in order:
My Very Educated Mother Just Showed Us Neptune
No, I didn’t make it up! I read it online somewhere. But I do like it. Alas, the kids wouldn’t quite get the concept of a mnemonic yet. Especially since they are still working on spelling and reading. Maybe I should have told it to them though…I didn’t think they knew anything about planets either before this weekend.
If you want more info on the planets presented in a kid friendly way, check out:
<3 Pedigreed Housewife
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