- The solar system is made up of eight planets
- Planets are heavenly bodies that go round the sun.
- The sun is the center of the solar system
- The sun is a star, and it produces its won light
- Planets do not produce their own light, they get it from the sun.
- The eight planets of the solar system are; Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune.

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Mercury

• It is the nearest to the sun
• It takes the shortest time to go round the sun
• It can be seen in the sky in the evening
• It is also called the evening star
• It takes about 88 days to go round the sun

Venus

• It is the second planet from the sun
• It is the hottest and brightest planet
• It can be seen in the sky early in the morning or late in the evening
• It is also called the morning star
• It takes about 224.7 days to go round the sun

Earth

• It is the third planet from the sun
• It is the only planet that supports life
• It has oxygen and water
• It takes 365¼ days to go round the sun

Jupiter

• It is the largest planet in the solar system
• It is fifth from the sun
• It has the highest gravitational force
• It takes about 11.86 years to go round the sun

Saturn

• It is the only planet with three beautiful rings around it, and usually dubbed the most beautiful planet
• It is the sixth from the sun, and third farthest
• It takes about 29.4 years to go round the sun

- One requires a manilla paper, plasticine or clay, soft board, pins and glue.
- One can then use the following procedure.

1. Using clay or plasticine, model the planets according to their size
2. Fix the manilla paper on the soft board using glue
3. Using the manilla paper and pen, draw the orbits as circles around the sun
4. Fix the modelled planets on the orbits using the pins and fix the sun at the center of the circle
5. label the planets by putting a name tag on each planet

Compare your results with ours:

A plasticine model of the Solar System