A hands-on solar system activity for EYFS and KS1. Children cut out nine planets and place them in order from the Sun onto a painted night-sky mat, then check their own work.

What children will explore

• Order of the planets - which body comes next as you travel outward from the Sun
• Distance from the Sun - that each planet sits further out than the last, and the order never changes
• Naming and vocabulary - every planet named, read and matched independently
• Relative size - Jupiter the largest and Mercury the smallest, in the correct order of size
• Self-correction - each position on the mat is labelled, so children check their own work rather than waiting to be told

Meet the planets

• The Sun - the star at the centre of it all
• Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars - the four small rocky planets
• Jupiter and Saturn - the gas giants, one of them ringed with ice
• Uranus and Neptune - the ice giants, one pale green and one deep blue
• The Moon - included as Earth’s own satellite, for the word as much as the body

What’s inside - 9 pages

• Two ordering mats: A4 for table work, A2 for floor work
• A printer-friendly version of each mat, using a fraction of the ink
• Cut-out planets in two sizes, one set scaled for each mat
• A how to use page covering printing, cutting and assembly

Why teachers and parents love this pack

• Every target circle on the mat is identical, so the activity cannot be solved by matching a shape to a hole. Children have to know the order.
• The printed names make the material self-correcting, which frees the adult to observe rather than mark
• Planets are painted from the real thing, with correct colours and features and no cartoon faces
• The A4 mat suits one child at a table; the A2 mat suits a pair or a small group on the carpet
• It grows with the class: start with placing, move on to naming, then to ordering from memory
• Reusable. Add hook-and-loop dots once, laminate if you like, and it lasts for years
• Scissors are the only thing you need

Instant PDF download, 9 pages. A4, also fits US Letter. The two large mat pages are A2 and can be printed at a copy shop or scaled to fit at home. Print as many copies as you need for your class or family.