Updated Nov 20, 2025
Look to the stars to appreciate the true beauty of the expansive universe. Nearly every star in the night sky has at least one planet orbiting it; each time you stare into the night sky, you could be looking at hundreds of alien civilizations! These 9 fun solar system activities for kids make a perfect home activity or STEM lesson, allowing children to explore our solar system and earn their planet patches along the way. Follow along with the activities in this article to explore what it might be like when humans explore our solar system, and earn your planet patches along the way. This article has a bunch of fun space crafts for kids to engage them with learning.
For Mercury, have your kids independently research fun facts about the planet Mercury. If you want an extra challenge, have them research various power plants, such as nuclear or wind farms, to learn how they function. Next, gather as a group and share the facts with each other. Once everyone has shared, design a way that future humans could harness Mercury’s proximity to the sun as a source of power or heat. Would they have giant solar panels? A massive scoop to collect the sun’s surface? Who would work here – people, robots or a mix of both? Give the kids blue construction paper and white pencils to draw up their plans like architects, then let them pitch their plan to you.
For an extra challenge, have them build a mock-up of their plan out of popsicle sticks (or any other preferred building material).
Everyone loves to speculate about life on Mars – but what if there was life on Venus? Begin by researching some facts about Venus, such as the gravity, atmosphere, surface and temperature. Once your group understands the conditions they’re working around, pass out paper, pencil crayons, markers and other art supplies. The kids should draw what they think the aliens would look like and write a description explaining their design choices. These don’t have to be long or elaborate descriptions: “The aliens are pink because my favourite colour is pink” is perfectly acceptable. You can take this activity a step further by having them present their aliens to each other and do a “trait swap” by taking their favourite parts of each other’s designs and remixing them together to create the ultimate Venus-dwelling alien!
For an extra challenge, have them design a complete alien society, from their attire to the structure of their family units.
While humans are off exploring the stars, turn your attention back to Earth for this activity to figure out how our beloved planet is faring! To start this activity, have your kids brush up on Earth’s atmosphere, the consequences of global warming, native biomes and their favourite sci-fi tropes. Then reconvene to discuss what might have happened to Earth! Did it become a utopia free from pollution? Or is it a dystopian world riddled with pollution? Perhaps humans have even left it behind entirely, setting their sights on the stars to let the world heal. Let your group’s imagination run wild as they create their own version of Earth.
Science fiction readers and authors have always been fascinated with humankind’s expansion into space. However, the idea of colonizing Mars first emerged by way of Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles in 1950. For the next seventy-five years, humankind has been gripped by the urge to leave the Earth behind and step onto Mars’ sandy embrace. Earn our Mars badge by writing your own short story about how you would colonize Mars! Then, come together and share your stories with your friends.
For an extra challenge, combine your stories together to make the ultimate story – take your favourite pieces from each, such as the description of Mars, the first instance of colonization, and even any aliens that you might encounter.
Jupiter is more than a swirling gas giant - it's also known for its storms. The most famous of these storms is the Great Red Spot, which has been raging for hundreds of years. To earn the Jupiter badge, first have your group break into individuals or pairs to research Jupiter (additionally, you could assign each person a different aspect of Jupiter, such as what its surface is made of). Then, have everyone come back together and present their findings to the group. Once everyone has had a chance to share, ask the group how they think aliens could secretly live on/in Jupiter – remind them that this would be challenging as Jupiter lacks a solid surface! They should write down everything they can think of about the aliens’ culture, from what they eat to where they live, as if they were making a field guide for the next astronauts to find.
For an extra challenge, have them create illustrations to go along with their field guide!
Everyone already knows about Saturn’s rings, so spice things up by making your own. First, decide on your planetary body; you can use a foam sphere, a light, or even an orange! Next, collect your materials – these can be anything from pompoms, string, wooden balls, paints and more – the tools and materials you use are completely up to you and how you want your planetary rings to look. Have a reference on hand detailing the elements that make up Saturn’s rings, so you know what to include, such as ice and rock. Then let your kids go wild! It is completely up to them what materials they choose from the supplies and which ones they don’t, so everyone winds up with unique rings. They can even paint the planetary body if they want (we advise double-checking that they can paint their selected object first)! Once they’re finished, reward them with this Saturn badge.
For an extra challenge, devise a way to suspend the rings and planetary body from the ceiling or a tree.
Did you know that Uranus also has rings? That’s right, there’s more than just jokes to learn about this planet! To begin this activity, have your group research the planet Uranus and then present their findings to the group, including Uranus’ extremely high atmospheric pressure. To better understand this pressure, make some armpit fudge! Find the recipe that best suits your group, taking into account any dietary restrictions, and have a blast learning about the effects of pressure.
For an extra challenge, make some actual fudge to compare it to your armpit fudge. Does the pressure from your armpit change the taste – is it an improvement, deterioration, or the same? How would this reflect on any food made on Uranus?
The last planet in our solar system and our smallest gas giant is Neptune, with freezing temperatures that reach as low as -200°C. Earn this planet badge by making different ice cubes! While your freezer can’t reach as cold as Neptune, it can demonstrate what might freeze on Neptune. Freeze ice cubes or popsicles of your favourite drinks, such as water, iced tea, pop and even a smoothie. You can even freeze some wild cards, like honey and peanut butter, to see what happens! Afterwards, you can add these ice cubes to your drink for an extra fun flavour.
For an extra challenge, freeze some toys (such as plastic dinosaurs) inside these cubes and then set them on a tray in the sun outside. Try guessing which ones will melt the fastest and free the dinosaur!
Even though Pluto isn’t technically considered a planet in our solar system anymore, we still love it! For this activity, whether you consider Pluto to be a planet or not is up to you, because it’s time to build a model of our solar system! Use the materials that make you happy – the model doesn’t have to be accurate or of traditional design. We recommend using foam spheres, paint and some string; however, if you really wanted, you could make the solar system out of pasta. Earn this badge by ensuring your planets have a clear distinction between each other and are identifiable, but the rest is up to you!
For an extra challenge, include the details you have learnt and created for each planet, such as Mercury’s power systems and Venus’ alien society.
If you're looking for a fun activity to do with the stickers you just earned, why not make a diagram of the solar system you can hang on your wall? You could paint the background with constellations, in accordance with the current date or your birthday, and position the planets around a sun. In addition, you could add information about the planets' inhabitants that you created during this activity.
If your group earned badges, you can make a solar system blanket! This blanket can be any shape you want, from circular to rectangular, to even triangular. Add bedazzlements, such as sequins for stars or embroidered asteroids around Saturn. The sky is the limit! Make sure to sew the planet patches into their correct positions around the centre. We suggest lining the back of the blanket with a soft material to make it extra cozy.
Indy Scott is our content writer! They are nonbinary (they/he) and love to customize their clothing with patches.
