ClassX Video Lessons Planets in the Solar System for Kids | Learn about the sun and the eight planets
Welcome to our exciting journey through the solar system! Our solar system is like a big family with the sun at the center and eight planets that travel around it. Let’s learn some cool facts about the sun and these amazing planets!
Did you know that the sun is a star? It’s much closer to us than other stars, which is why it looks so big and bright. The sun is about 93 million miles away from Earth. When you feel the sun’s warmth on your face, remember that the sunlight took about eight minutes to reach you!
There are eight planets in our solar system: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Each planet is unique and special in its own way. Let’s hop into our imaginary spaceship and explore them one by one!
Mercury is the closest planet to the sun and the smallest one too. It’s a rocky planet covered in craters, and it doesn’t have any moons. Mercury is so close to the sun that it doesn’t have much of an atmosphere.
Venus is about the same size as Earth but much hotter! It’s the hottest planet because of its thick atmosphere filled with carbon dioxide. Venus has no moons and spins in the opposite direction of most planets.
Earth is our home and the only planet we know that has life. It has one moon and is covered mostly by water. Our atmosphere is just right for us to breathe and protects us from the sun’s rays.
Mars is known as the “Red Planet” because of its rusty soil. It’s a cold desert world with two moons. Scientists are curious about Mars because it might have had water long ago. Rovers have been sent to explore its surface!
Jupiter is the biggest planet in our solar system and is made mostly of gas. It has a giant red spot, which is a huge storm! Jupiter has at least 79 moons and faint rings that are hard to see.
Saturn is famous for its beautiful rings made of ice and rocks. It’s also a gas giant and has at least 53 moons. Saturn’s rings are a stunning sight through a telescope!
Uranus is an ice giant with a bluish color because of methane in its atmosphere. It has 13 rings and 27 moons. Uranus is unique because it spins on its side!
Neptune is the farthest planet from the sun and takes 165 Earth years to go around it once. It’s an ice giant like Uranus and has a thick atmosphere. Neptune has six rings and 13 moons.
Let’s see what you’ve learned:
Great job, space explorers! Our solar system is full of wonders, and there’s always more to learn. Next time you look at the night sky, think about the amazing planets we’ve talked about. Who knows, maybe you’ll be a scientist discovering new things about space one day!
Hope you enjoyed our space adventure! Keep exploring and learning!
Create Your Own Planet Model: Gather some craft supplies like clay, colored paper, and markers. Create a model of your favorite planet from the solar system. Think about its size, color, and any special features it has, like rings or moons. Once you’ve made your model, share with your family or friends why you chose that planet and what makes it special!
Planet Observation Journal: Start a journal where you can draw and write about the planets. Each night, try to spot a planet in the night sky. Use a simple app or a website with a star map to help you identify which planet you are looking at. Write down what you see and any interesting facts you learn about that planet. Over time, you’ll have your own collection of space discoveries!
Sunlight Experiment: On a sunny day, go outside with a small mirror. Use the mirror to reflect sunlight onto a wall or the ground. Notice how bright and warm the light is. Think about how the sunlight traveled all the way from the sun to reach you. Discuss with a parent or teacher why sunlight is important for life on Earth and how it helps plants grow.
Sure! Here’s a sanitized version of the transcript:
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Planets in the Solar System for Kids
Our solar system is made up of the sun and the planets that orbit around it. Today, we are going to talk about some interesting facts about the sun and the eight unique planets that make up our solar system.
Here is an interesting fact: the sun is approximately 93 million miles away from the Earth. Scientists estimate that it takes about eight minutes for the light of the sun to travel to Earth, which means that the sunlight you are feeling on your face right now left the surface of the sun eight minutes ago. Wild, right?
The sun is actually a star, but it is much closer to the Earth than all of the other stars in the galaxy. Like other stars, the sun is mostly a big ball of gases, including hydrogen and helium.
There are eight planets in our solar system: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Some of these planets are huge, and others are small. Some planets have moons, and others do not. The path or orbit the planets take when traveling around the sun is oval-shaped, and each planet takes a different amount of time to orbit the sun. For example, it takes the Earth about 365 days to orbit the sun, so one year on Earth equals 365 days long. The farther away a planet is from the sun, the longer it takes to complete its orbit.
While the planets are orbiting around the sun, they are also rotating or spinning. The amount of time it takes for a planet to spin around one time equals the length of one day. On Earth, one day equals 24 hours; on Mercury, it is 60 Earth days.
Let’s jump into our spaceship and look at each planet individually so we can learn some more interesting facts!
We are going to start with Mercury, which is the planet closest to the sun. Mercury is the smallest planet in the solar system. It is a rocky planet covered in craters. The sun is so hot that it pushes the atmosphere away. Mercury has been known since ancient times because it can be seen without advanced telescopes. Oh, and guess what? Mercury has no moons!
Next up is Venus. Similar in size to Earth, it is the hottest planet of them all, with a thick atmosphere of carbon dioxide and clouds made of sulfuric acid. The rocky planet also has lots of mountains and active volcanoes. Here is a fascinating fact: it is so hot on Venus that metals like lead would not be solid; they would be puddles of liquid. Venus is unique because it rotates in the opposite direction of most of the other planets. It has no moons and can be easily seen in the night sky without a telescope.
The Earth is a rocky planet with one moon. It is the only planet in our solar system that we know of that supports life. Seventy percent of the Earth’s surface is made up of water. The Earth’s atmosphere has just the right amount of thickness to protect the planet from the sun and meteorites and provides plenty of oxygen for us to breathe.
Mars is a rocky planet that is a cold desert world with two moons and is about half the size of Earth. Sometimes Mars is called the “Red Planet” because of rusty iron in its soil. Mars has seasons and, at one time, probably had flowing water. There are signs of ancient floods, but now the only water on the planet is found in icy soils and thin clouds. There may also be liquid salty water in the ground. Scientists are very interested in studying Mars to see if the planet could sustain life in the future and have sent rovers to explore the planet’s surface.
Here’s an interesting fact: Mars is the only planet where we have sent rovers.
What is that rocky area between Mars and Jupiter? It is the asteroid belt, which contains rocky, irregularly shaped bodies called asteroids.
While we pass through it, let’s take a minute to review:
True or False: Venus is the coldest planet in the solar system.
False! Venus is the hottest planet.
Fill in the blank: Mars has ___ moons.
Two moons.
True or False: Seventy percent of Earth’s surface is made up of water.
True! Great job!
Now let’s head to Jupiter. Jupiter is the first gas giant planet we are visiting, which means we definitely could not stand on its surface because it is made up of hydrogen and helium. It is our solar system’s biggest planet, and you might be familiar with this huge red spot, which is actually the site of huge continuous storms. Here is an interesting fact: Jupiter has at least 79 moons, the most of all the planets, plus it has rings, but they’re very hard to see.
Saturn, also a gas giant made of hydrogen and helium, has a thick atmosphere and is probably best known for its beautiful distinct rings. There are seven main rings with spaces in between, and each ring is made up of groups of tiny ringlets made of ice chunks and rocks. Saturn has at least 53 moons. Want to know an interesting fact about Saturn? The famous astronomer Galileo saw Saturn through a telescope way back in the 1600s.
Uranus, discovered in 1782 by a British astronomer named William Herschel, is an ice giant, which means that it is mostly made of flowing icy materials like water, methane, and ammonia fluids that surround a small rocky center. Its atmosphere is thick with hydrogen and helium, but also methane, which is what makes it blue in color. Uranus has 13 rings, the outer ones being the most colorful, and 27 moons. Like Venus, Uranus rotates in the opposite direction, and unlike any other planet, it rotates on its side.
Last but not least is Neptune. Neptune is the farthest planet away, and it takes 165 Earth years to rotate once around the sun, which means that one year on Neptune equals 165 years on Earth. Neptune is an ice giant like Uranus, and like Uranus, it gets its color from the methane in its atmosphere. Neptune is made of a thick fog of water, ammonia, and methane over an Earth-sized center. It has six rings, but they are difficult to see, just like Jupiter’s rings. Neptune also has 13 moons, but it may have more that have yet to be discovered.
Wow, talk about a whirlwind trip across the solar system! Let’s see what you remember about these last four planets:
Which planet is the only one that rotates on its side?
Uranus.
True or False: Saturn is the planet that has the most moons.
False! As of right now, Jupiter has the most moons.
Well done, space explorers! The solar system is an amazing place filled with eight planets that have their own unique characteristics. The next time you look at the night sky, see if you can spot some of the cool planets and remember what you have learned. Maybe one day you will be a scientist or astronomer learning even more about the mysteries of our solar system.
Hope you had fun learning with us! Visit us at learnbright.org for thousands of free resources and turnkey solutions for teachers and homeschoolers.
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