Motivational Coping & Healing

Hi guys :) I am excited to share our first homeschooling science project… making a miniature scale version of our solar system. If you are new to this blog, welcome. I’m Crystal and I blog about different topics daily. Tuesdays are when I blog about homeschooling. Wednesdays are mental health related, Thursdays are product reviews, and Fridays are keto recipes.

Today I am sharing our latest science project, which was scaling down our solar system to fit on our 8ft table. This week we learned about outer space, so our science experiment reflected the vastness of outer space. All of our science experiments are either free, with items you can find around the house, or very cheap. You can do them too :)

Experiment Name: “If the Sun Were a Dot…”

Theme: Understanding the vastness of space

Objective:

To help students visualize the size of our solar system and how far apart planets and stars really are.

What You’ll Need:

• Paper (scrap or printer paper) (I used sticky notes that I cut into planets)
• A ruler or tape measure
• Crayons or markers
• A hallway, sidewalk, driveway, or park
• Optional: sticky notes or tape

Step-by-Step Instructions:

Setup the Scale:

We’re going to shrink the solar system so that the Sun is the size of a dot (like the tip of a pencil) and then show how far away each planet would be in that tiny model.

You’ll draw dots or place notes to mark:

Object	Real Distance from Sun	Scaled Distance (Sun = dot)
Mercury	36 million miles	1 inch
Venus	67 million miles	1.8 inches
Earth	93 million miles	2.5 inches
Mars	142 million miles	3.8 inches
Jupiter	484 million miles	13 inches
Saturn	886 million miles	24 inches
Uranus	1.78 billion miles	48 inches (4 ft)
Neptune	2.79 billion miles	76 inches (6.3 ft)

Let’s Build It!

1. Start at “The Sun” draw a tiny dot or use a yellow sticky note to represent it.
2. Measure outward with a ruler or tape measure and mark where each planet goes (with another dot or note).
3. Walk it out: “Look how far Earth is from the Sun in this tiny model!”
4. Optional: Place a “star” (Alpha Centauri) 5 miles away in real space scale to show how insanely vast it is!

What Kids Will Learn:

• Even when the Sun is a dot, planets are super far apart.
• The space between planets is mostly empty.
• Stars are so far away we can’t even fit them on our model.

Kid Discussion Prompts:

• “Why do you think we don’t visit other planets easily?”
• “If you could ride a spaceship, how long do you think it would take to get to Neptune?”
• “Why are stars so tiny in the sky even though they’re huge?”

Bonus Activity:

Ask your student to lie down and look up at the stars (or draw them if it’s daytime) and say:

“Each one of those stars could have its own solar system, just like ours. Space isn’t just big, it’s almost forever.”

Our craft table has gotten a lot of use over the years lol, I promise it’s clean, it’s just stained. I plan on getting some stick-on countertop linoleum one day to make it a little nicer, but this works for now.

Killian really enjoyed this experiment and learned how to use a tape measure to measure the distance, inches and feet, how to scale something massive into something smaller, and the distance of the planets from the sun.

How do you feel about the vastness of space?