ClassX Video Lessons Planets of Our Solar System | Planets for Kids | Learn interesting facts about the planets
Imagine this: Not too long ago, my mom got a brand-new refrigerator. But what caught my eye wasn’t the fridge—it was the gigantic box it came in! It was the biggest box I’d ever seen, and I just had to have it. After some convincing, my mom said I could keep it, but it had to stay outside. Perfect! Because rocket ships don’t belong in kitchens, right?
For two weeks, I turned that box into the coolest rocket ship ever. I painted it orange and blue and added windows to see the stars. That summer, I learned how to use a telescope and pretended to visit all the planets in our solar system. Even though my space trips were pretend, the stars and planets I saw were very real.
All those stars and planets are part of something called a galaxy. A galaxy is a huge system made up of millions or even billions of stars, dust, and gas, all held together by gravity. Our galaxy is called the Milky Way. It looks like a big, spilled glass of milk in the sky!
Inside the Milky Way is our solar system. It includes the sun, the moon, eight planets, and other cool things like space rocks. Let’s focus on the eight planets.
To be a planet, an object needs to:
All eight planets in our solar system revolve around the sun. But they don’t all move at the same speed. For example, Earth takes 365 days to go around the sun once. Mars takes almost twice as long, and Neptune takes 165 Earth years!
Imagine eight kids standing around a big yellow ball, which represents the sun. The kids are the planets. When they start moving around the ball, you’ll notice some move faster than others. That’s because they’re closer to the ball and have less distance to travel.
Just like the kids, planets are different distances from the sun. The closer they are, the faster they move. Also, planets spin while they revolve. Earth takes 24 hours to spin once, which gives us day and night. Jupiter spins in less than 10 hours, while Mercury takes 59 Earth days!
Mercury is the closest planet to the sun and the smallest. It’s about the size of our moon and has a thin atmosphere, making it very hot—up to 800 degrees Fahrenheit!
Venus is the hottest planet, even though it’s not the closest to the sun. Its thick atmosphere traps heat, making it about 900 degrees Fahrenheit. Venus spins in the opposite direction of most planets.
Earth is our home and the only planet with life. It has the right mix of sunshine, water, and atmosphere to support life. From space, Earth looks mostly blue because 70% of it is water.
Mars is known as the Red Planet because of its rusty soil. It’s about half the size of Earth and has been explored by rovers. Some scientists hope to send astronauts there one day!
Jupiter is the largest planet. It’s so big that it could fit all the other planets inside it and still have room! It’s also the fastest spinning planet.
Saturn is famous for its rings, made of space rocks and debris. It has 82 moons, more than any other planet!
Uranus is an ice giant, mostly made of water, and it’s very cold. It’s known as the sideways planet because it rotates on its side.
Neptune is the farthest planet from the sun and can’t be seen without a telescope. It’s dark, cold, and has super-fast winds.
To remember the order of the planets, use this saying: “My very educated mother just served us noodles.” The first letter of each word matches the first letter of each planet: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
Did you know there used to be nine planets? Pluto was once considered a planet but is now called a dwarf planet because it doesn’t meet all the criteria to be a planet.
Now that you’re a planet expert, grab a telescope and start exploring the night sky!
Create Your Own Planet: Use clay or playdough to create your own planet. Think about what makes a planet unique. Is it big or small? What color is it? Does it have rings like Saturn or is it red like Mars? Once you’ve created your planet, give it a name and share with your family or friends what makes your planet special.
Planetary Dance: Gather some friends or family members and pretend to be the planets in our solar system. Use a large open space to represent the sun in the center. Each person can choose to be a different planet and move around the “sun” at different speeds, just like the planets do. Remember, the closer you are to the sun, the faster you should move!
Starry Night Observation: On a clear night, go outside with an adult and look up at the sky. Try to spot some stars or even a planet. Use a simple star map or an app to help identify what you’re seeing. Talk about how far away these stars and planets are and imagine what it would be like to visit them.
Here’s a sanitized version of the provided YouTube transcript:
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Not so long ago, when I was your age, my mom bought a new refrigerator. I remember how excited she was! I didn’t care much about the fridge until I saw the biggest, most amazing box I had ever seen in my life. It was three times as big as I was and seemed to take up half the kitchen. I shouted across the room to my mom, “Can I keep it, please?” After some convincing, she agreed on one condition: it had to stay outside.
That’s perfect, I said excitedly, because rocket ships do not belong in kitchens! I spent two weeks building the perfect rocket ship with orange and blue paint and windows to see the stars at night. I had so much fun that summer learning how to use a telescope, going on pretend trips to space, looking at stars, and imagining what it would be like to visit all the planets in our solar system.
That summer, even though my trips to space were totally pretend, the moon, stars, and planets we saw with our telescope were all very real. They are all part of a larger planetary system called a galaxy.
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A galaxy, by definition, is a system of millions or even billions of stars, dust, and gas that is all held together by gravity, which keeps it all in place. Galaxies are enormous, and our universe is made up of billions of them. The name of our galaxy is the Milky Way Galaxy. It gets its name because all those white stars look like a giant spilled glass of milk.
Let’s talk about what’s inside the Milky Way, and no, it’s not caramel, but that would be super awesome! This is a picture of our solar system. Our solar system is enormous (that’s not actually a word, but it is very, very big), and it fits inside the Milky Way Galaxy, which gives you an idea of just how massive our galaxy really is.
The moon, the sun, eight planets (including Earth), space rocks, and other cool things are all part of that solar system. But in this video, we are going to focus on our eight planets.
So, what’s a planet? To be considered a planet, it requires three things:
1. It is a large object with enough gravity to pull itself into a round shape.
2. It must be big enough to push away or consume other objects in its path.
3. It must revolve or move around a star. In our solar system, that star is the sun.
Yep, the sun is a massive star, and the eight planets in our solar system all revolve or move around that star. One thing that makes each of the planets unique is that none of them move at the same speed. For example, it takes 365 days (or one year) for the Earth to revolve just one time around the sun. On Mars, it takes almost twice that long, and on Neptune, it takes 165 Earth years for it to move around the sun once.
But is Neptune just super slow, or is there another reason it takes Neptune so long to orbit the sun?
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Take a look at these eight kids standing around a big yellow ball. The ball represents the sun, and the kids represent each of the planets. Now watch what happens when they start to move or revolve around the sun. What do you notice is happening? Some of the kids are able to move around the ball quicker than other kids. That’s because they are closer to the ball, so they have less distance to travel.
The kids are also different sizes, and some are faster than others. Just like the kids and the yellow ball, the planets are also different distances from the sun. The planets that are closest to the sun have the shortest distance to move, while the planets that are farthest away from the sun have a longer distance to go. And just like with the kids, the size and mass of each planet also affect their speed.
Cool planet fact: Not only do the planets revolve around the sun, but they also spin while they are revolving. Can you think of something that happens every day on Earth because Earth spins? Have you ever wondered where the sun goes each night? It doesn’t actually go anywhere; it’s the Earth that moves. When it’s daytime on one side of the planet, it’s nighttime on the other.
Guess how long it takes Earth to make one full spin. Did you say 24 hours? You’re right! 12 hours during the day and 12 hours during the night. Just like the planets don’t revolve at the same speed, they don’t spin at the same speed either. On Jupiter, it takes less than 10 Earth hours to make one full spin, but on Mercury, it takes 59 Earth days.
By the way, have you ever wondered why you can’t feel the Earth spinning? If you’ve ever flown on an airplane, that plane was probably traveling at about 500 miles per hour. That’s about five times faster than your car goes! That’s pretty fast, but when you’re in an airplane, it doesn’t feel like it’s moving at all. In fact, on longer trips, you might even wish it moved faster.
The reason you don’t feel like you’re moving on an airplane is that you are moving with the airplane. Since we’re on Earth and the Earth is spinning, we spin with it and don’t even notice it.
Cool planet fact: Some of the planets are made of rock, while others are made of gases, which means those planets are not completely solid. The planets made of gas spin quicker than the planets made of rock.
Let’s take a closer look at each of our eight planets. Our journey begins with Mercury. Mercury is the closest planet to the sun.
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It is also the smallest of the eight planets. It’s about the same size as the moon and has very little atmosphere. The atmosphere is like a see-through shield that protects planets from space rocks and other debris. So if there isn’t much atmosphere, those rocks can end up hitting the planet, creating giant holes or craters.
Mercury is also very, very hot. Think of 100 degrees Fahrenheit in summer. How does your body feel? How long can you stay out in that heat? How long would a popsicle last before it melts? Now imagine if it was eight times hotter than that, or 800 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s the temperature on Mercury during the day.
If you’ve ever wondered why people don’t live on other planets, heat is a big reason for Mercury. However, Mercury is not the hottest planet in our solar system.
Venus, even though Venus is not the closest planet to the sun, it is the hottest. Unlike Mercury, which has a thin atmosphere, the atmosphere on Venus is very thick. Its atmosphere traps heat from the sun, so the planet gets extremely hot. Venus is about 900 degrees Fahrenheit, making it the hottest planet of them all.
But that’s not the only thing that makes Venus different from the other planets. Do you know any kids at your school that have to do the opposite of what every other kid is doing? Well, that’s Venus! Venus spins slowly and in the opposite direction of most planets.
Even though Venus is a lot hotter than Earth, it is similar to Earth in size and shape. Speaking of Earth, Earth is where we live. It’s the only planet where people live. Have you ever wondered why? Well, it’s because there is just the right amount of sunshine, oxygen, water, and atmosphere for life to exist here.
Unlike Venus and Mercury and the other planets, Earth’s atmosphere keeps us at just the right temperature and protects us from things in space. Speaking of space, this is a picture of Earth from space. Can you guess why it’s mostly blue? That’s because seventy percent of Earth is made of water.
Unlike Earth, our next planet has very little water on it, and what water it does have is frozen. Mars has the nickname “Red Planet.” Can you see why? It gets that name from its rust-colored soil. Mars is about half the size of Earth. Volcanoes, impacts from space debris, wind, and other things have all changed the surface of Mars over time.
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Several orbiters or space shuttles have flown by and around Mars, and rovers have even landed on its surface. If people were to ever live on another planet, Mars might be the most similar to Earth. In fact, some scientists are even making plans to land astronauts on Mars.
Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system. It’s so big that if you took all the other planets and squished them together, Jupiter would still be over two times bigger. Not only is Jupiter the biggest planet, but it is also the fastest spinning planet in our solar system.
Let’s move on to Saturn. Can you guess what makes this planet unique? Those rings are pretty cool, huh? Do you know what they’re made of? We’ll give you a hint: it’s not gold. Scientists think that Saturn’s rings are made up of bits of space rock and debris left over from moons.
Hold on, did we just say moons? Like more than one? Yep, there is more than one moon in our solar system! Some of the other planets have moons as well, and Saturn has the most. Can you guess how many? 82! Saturn’s strong gravitational pull breaks apart the rocks. Those rocks then spin around the planet, making it look like it has rings.
But did you know that Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune also have rings around them? But none of their rings compare to Saturn’s rings and tons of moons. Now that’s a cool planet!
Speaking of cool planets, Uranus is known as an ice giant. It is made up of mostly water, and it’s freezing cold. It is 19 times farther from the sun than Earth. Why do you think that makes Uranus a very cold planet? Well, what happens when you stand by a fireplace to get warm? The closer you are to the fire, the warmer you get, right? And the farther away you are, the colder you get.
It’s the same with the planets in the sun. The planets that are closest to the sun get the hottest, and the planets that are farthest away get the coldest, which explains the freezing cold temperature on Uranus and why people can’t live there either. Uranus is also known as the sideways planet because it rotates on its side.
Neptune is the farthest planet from the sun. In fact, it is so far away that it is the only planet that we can’t see from Earth without a telescope. Neptune is dark, cold, and very windy. Winds on Neptune can reach over 700 miles per hour. To give you an idea just how fast that is, the biggest tornadoes on Earth can reach speeds of about 260 to 318 miles per hour, and they can move houses with crazy fast winds and freezing cold temperatures. Neptune’s probably not the place you want to build your summer home.
And that’s our eight planets! Remembering the names of all eight planets can get kind of tricky. This saying might make it easier: “My very educated mother just served us noodles.” The beginning letter of each word in this sentence is the same beginning letter as each of the eight planets in order: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
Cool planet fact: Did you know that there used to be nine planets in the solar system? My baby Pluto was the name of that other planet. It didn’t disappear; it just got downgraded from planet to a dwarf planet. Sorry, Pluto! Pluto didn’t do something wrong; it just didn’t meet all the criteria to be called a planet anymore.
Remember the three things planets require to be called a planet? They must revolve around a star, they have to have enough gravity to be round, and they must be big enough to push away or consume other objects in their path. Pluto got the first two, but it simply isn’t big enough to push other big objects away from itself.
Now that you’re a pro on all the planets, let’s pull out our telescope.
What planet am I looking at?
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What is a planet made of?
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What is the name of the dwarf planet that used to be a planet?
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What is the name of our galaxy?
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How many hours does it take Earth to make one spin?
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Question: Can you name all the planets in order? Remember our hint: “My very educated mother just served us noodles.”
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune.
Great job! We hope you had fun learning about the eight planets in our solar system. And next time when someone you know comes home with a new refrigerator, you’ll know exactly what to do!
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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This version removes any informal language, unnecessary repetitions, and maintains a more structured and educational tone.
