November 12, 2022

FUN Yarn Solar System Planet Project for kids

Make learning about the solar system for kids FUN my making your own solar system project! This fun, inespensive solar system for kids is made of YARN! Children of all ages from preschool, pre-k, kindergarten, first grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, 4th grade, 5th grade, and 6th graders will enjoy making. This 3d solar system project is easy to make and an inexpensive way to make a solar system model that will leave an impression on kids! Use this as you study planets for kids, a solar system unit, a school project, or science fair projects kids will love! Don’t forget to grab the free solar system printables to help students working on the solar system for kids project.

Solar System Project

Looking for an easy solar system project that is unique, fun-to-make and thrifty too? This solar system project uses inexpensive, colorful yarn to make each of the planets in our solar system. Preschoolers, kindergartners, grade 1, grade 2, and grade 3 students will have fun making large DIY pompom planets to represent Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. This is a great, hands-on solar system project for kids as they begin learning about the planets in our solar system with a solar system for kids lesson! Use the cool planet project to decorate your classroom, homeschool room, or playroom as you sneak in some summer learning!

Solar system for kids project

Making your own Solar System is the best way to kick off a solar system unit. We decided to make this Yarn Solar System Project, but here are 18 creative solar system projects to pick from. No matter what project you pick, kids will learn:

Names of the Planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune
Order of the planets
Where & what the asteroid belt is
Planets orbit the sun
Moons / Dwarf Planets

Solar System for Kids

To make this 3d solar system model you will want to print the free planets mini book and get the following yarn:

Mercury – light grey
Venus – medium orange
Earth – llight blue / light green
Mars – mauve
Jupiter – dark orange, brown, and white/cream
Saturn – sunflower yellow and light orange
Uranus – cobalt blue and light blue or cream
Neptune – royal blue

Hint: For planets with more than one color you will wrap the yarn at the same time.

3d solar system project

Now, one by one you will wrap the yarn loosely around books of various sizes. The kids loved this part! Here is what we used:

Mini baby board books for: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars
Large Atlas for: Jupiter and Saturn
Chapter Book (like magic tree house size) for Uranus and Neptune

use multiple color of strings to make mutli-colored yarn planets

Solar system model for school project

Once you have about 1” in girth for the smaller planets and 1-2” thickness for the larger planets, carefully slide the yarn off the book.
Note: It goes quickly, but you will use lots of yarn for the larger planets.

put a rubber band around the center of the balled yarn.

Easy solar system project

Twist a rubberband around the middle of the yarn several times to create 2 loops. This part should be done by upper elementary or a parent to not undo all the winding you’ve already finished.

Solar system planets project

Using scissors cut the center of both loops to create a large pom pom planet.

Continue until you’ve made all the 8 inner and outer planets. We also made the asteroid belt out of squished up black/grey construction paper. We choose not to do Pluto which has now been classified as one of the dwarf planets.

keep the ending string of yarn to hang the yarn planet

DIY Solar system project

For Saturn, we added some construction paper cut into an oval with the center cut out and slid it over the planet.

3rd grade solar system project

We hung the planets from our ceiling. It was fun for the kids to practice figuring out which one was which and look at them to learn their names and positions in the universe.

Hint: You will want to use a thumbtack to hang the larger, heavier, outer planets.

Solar System Activities for Kids

Looking for more fun, hands on science activities to teach kids about astronomy or to round out your solar system for kids unit. You will love these hands on solar system activities and lessons:

The Sun Activities for Kindergarten – learn about the sun and how the planets orbit around it including a fun planets game for kids!
Moon Activities for Kids & Astronauts Too – make oreo moon phases, DIY telescope, learn about the astronauts who landed on the moon, and more!
Inner Planets for Kids (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars) – Use our free planet worksheets and fun hands-on activities like Mercury craters, Venus’ melting rocks, layers of the earth, and Erupting Mars Volcano
Outer Planets for Kids (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune) – combination of hands-on solar system projects and solar system printables; gaseous Jupiter, Saturn Rocket, plus cloudy Uranus and Neptune.
Pluto, Asteroid Belt, Comets, and Stars for Kids – make a FUN constellation projector, cold Pluto ice cream project, and grape constellation project
Yarn Solar System Project – fun, unique, and easy solar system model that is cheap and so pretty!
Paint Stick Solar System Project – easy-to-make solar system model for kids that doubles as an activity for learning the names and order of the planets
Pipe Cleaner Constellations – fun hands on pipe cleaner constellations activity for kids
Simple Galaxy Science Experiments
Looking for more fun, engaging, creative, and memorable moon projects for kids? You will love this 50 Moon Activities for Kids & Crafts collection with the best ideas from the whole internet!
TONS of really cool Solar System Project Ideas for kids of all ages

Free Solar System Printables

Plus, don’t forget to add these free solar system worksheets and printables to your lesson plan:

HUGE pack of FREE Solar System Worksheets for elementary age kids
Planet worksheets for kindergarten with solar system themed math and literacy activities for preschoolers, kindergartners, and grade 1 students
Simple Astronaut Coloring Pages
Space Worksheets Preschool
Free Constellation Worksheets
Solar System Coloring Pages to read, learn, and color the solar system
Printable Free Constellations Printable pdf for children to learn about stars and the patterns they make in the night sky
Cootie Catcher Constellation Activities for Kids
Free Constellation Cards
Moon Phases Kindergarten Worksheets – HUGE pack!
Planets Solar System for Kids pdf Book for students to learn about all the planets in our solar system
Moon Phases Printable Mini Book for kids to learn about the phases of the moon

Beth Gorden

Beth Gorden is the creative multi-tasking creator of 123 Homeschool 4 Me. As a busy homeschooling mother of six, she strives to create hands-on learning activities and worksheets that kids will love to make learning FUN! With over 20 years educating children, she has created over 1 million pages of printables to help teach kids alphabet, math, science, English grammar, history, and so much more! Beth is also the creator of 2 additional sites with even more educational activities and FREE printables – www.kindergartenworksheetsandgames.com and www.preschoolplayandlearn.com. Beth studied at the University of Northwestern where she got a double major to make her effective at teaching children while making education FUN!