I bought a Mercury (Hold up your fingers one by one as you name the planets.)
to visit friends on Venus,
But how on Earth can I ever get to Mars?
Jumping Jupiter!
Saturn's party is Saturday.
Uranus and Neptune will ride in a space car.
Oh, dear, oh, my, (Put your hands on the sides of your head
The planets in the sky. and move your head back and forth.)
You can learn them all in order.
Come on now and try.
I bought a....
This rhyme's been fun.
Now come on everyone.
Say the planets all in order
From our star the sun.
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars,
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune.
Activities:
*Take 9 paper plates and write the names of the planets on 8 of them. Write “Sun” on the last plate. Pass the plates out to the children. Ask the “sun” to stand up in front of the room. The children holding the other planets stand up in order as they are sung in the song. Which planet is closest to the sun? Which one is farthest away? What planets are next to the earth?
*What is the name of the planet we live on? Show the children the globe. Is the sun a planet? What is the sun? It’s our closest star. Why do we need the sun? Which planet do you think is the warmest? Which planet would be the coldest?
*Which planet would you like to visit? Why? How would you get there? What would you pack to take on your journey? Ask children to write or dictate imaginary stories about what they would do if they visited a strange planet.
*Check out books on the solar system from the library. Children could also do an internet search to find out what the different planets look like. Have children paint or draw planets. They could also make three dimensional planets using clay or papier-mâché.
*Make an accordion book of the planets from a sentence strip. Fold the sentence strip in half, fourths, and eighths. Open. Children write the names of the planets and illustrate starting with Mars and ending with Neptune.
*Show children drawings of constellations. Let them punch their own designs in black construction paper with a pushpin. Hold up to the light to reveal constellations.
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