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The Solar System Experience Friday 21 October 2016
STRICTLY 7-11 year olds- spaces are restricted.
The aim of this experience is to increase young learners’ understanding of the solar system, our
planet and the International Space Station in a fun and engaging way. By using the planetarium as
part of the experience the stars and planets come alive and young learners will feel like they could
reach out and touch them. It can be used not only as a teaching aid about the Space Station, but also
to inspire young learners imaginations, give them a love of science and to stimulate their curiosity to
want to find out more about our Solar System.
Session: ‘Space and Planets’
The aim of this session is to provide an exciting introduction to the solar system.
In this session young learners will learn about the following:
 The names of the eight planets in our solar system and the order they are in relative to the
sun (and the new planet that has been found!).
 The relative sizes of the planets and their distance from the sun.
 The sun is a star at the centre of our solar system.
 The sun, earth and moon are approximately spherical bodies.
 That some of the planets have moons and the number of moons for each planet varies.
 A moon is a celestial body that orbits a planet.
 That the planets take different amounts of time to orbit the sun.
The young learners are divided into eight teams - one for each planet.
 They will be given a template which has the size of the planets on it relative to the earth,
some string and modelling clay.
 For each team one of the young learners will create their planet out of modelling clay to the
correct size using the template. The other will cut the string to the correct length which is
the relative distance of their planet to the sun.
 The young learners will pin a label with the length of time it takes their planet to orbit the
sun on it.
 There will be a box containing ping pong balls. The young learners will use the ping pong
balls to count out the number of moons on their planet into a bag.
 The young learners will then line up in the order of the planets from the sun. We will use the
string to determine the distances the young learners need to stand to demonstrate how far
their planet is from the sun.
EXTENTION ACTIVITY: Use the information the young learners have understood about the name of
their planet, how big their planet is, the number of moons their planet has, the amount of time it
takes for a planet to orbit to compile a table.
EXTENTION ACTIVITY: The session leader will be the sun and hold onto the string of each child with
their planet. They will then orbit around ‘the sun’ as they would in the solar system. By seeing how
the planets rotate around the sun, teaching young learners about the concepts of why we get day
and night.
Session: Planetarium
The aim of this session is to provide an exciting and very different introduction to the solar system to
the young learners.
The inflatable planetarium is an amazing experience for young people. Once inside the planetarium a
3D video is played. The video will give the young learners lots of interesting details about our solar
system. The second part of the video shows amazing footage of a rocket blasting off from earth and
heading to the International Space Station. The young learners will see the rocket docking with the
space station. They then have a trip around the space station and see what happens in the different
sections like the kitchen, bedrooms and the laboratory. This is a great way for them to visualise what
it is like to be an astronaut and how different life in space is to life on earth.
EXTENTION ACTIVITY: Build Your Own Planetarium!
https://middleschoolscienceblog.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/constellationshoeboxplanetariumwit
hcards.pdf
Session: International Space Station
The aim of this session is for the young learners to really imagine what living on the International
Space station is like. They will gain an understanding of how difficult it is to complete simple
everyday tasks on the International Space Station compared to completing them on earth.
The young learners will learn about weightlessness and how this makes it difficult to do simple tasks.
The young learners will try to pick up small objects with large gloves and catch food in mid-air. They
will create a cardboard version of the International Space Station and if there is time complete a quiz
to test what they have learnt.
EXTENTION ACTIVITY: Visit the International Space Station Kids Club
https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forkids/kidsclub/flash/index.html
To BOOK for The Norwich Science Festival or for any queries
Contact: Sarah Power
[email protected], The Forum Learning and Event Manager
This event is presented by
Kinetic Science
Kinetic Adventure Centre
Pump Court, Church Street, New Buckenham, NR16 2BA
Phone: 01953 860080 | Mobile: 07776396963
Email: [email protected]/[email protected]
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