Paper Mache Solar System
For those that may not know, we are studying Astronomy this year. I've put it off long enough, so today we pulled out the book and it was down to business. The first chapter is a generic "What is Astronomy" chapter dealing with the basics of our solar system. The project for this chapter is making a scale model solar system from balloons. Well, since balloons don't hold air for very long, I decided to paper mache them for longer lasting results. It was quite an experience since it had been so long since I had done any paper mache. We had a few false starts, but in the end, I think it will work.
Hopefully we can paint tomorrow, but I have a feeling that our orbs may still be too wet for that. We could use balloons only for four of the planets because in relationship to each other, you just can't get balloons small enough for the other 5 (or is it 4?) planets. So, the girls just made little paper mache balls for the other planets. If I can muster the courage, I will try to figure out just how big the sun has to be in order to be scaled to our planets here. But, I have a sneaking suspicion that it requires some math, so it may never happen. I hear the girls have plans to hang this solar system from their bedroom ceiling.
Our supplies: My textbook, balloons, newspaper and a large bowl for mixing our "glue".
The girls got busy cutting the paper into strips. In the end, though, it worked better to rip it, so rip it, we did.
Carefully cleaning off the excess flour and water mixture.
Neptune. Or is it Uranus? I can't remember. But, I can check the measurements tomorrow.
The finished and drying product. I have been given a hard time for including Pluto. I guess I just can't let it go. In case you wondered, it's the spit-was sized one on the tray. Pretty cool, huh? It really is pretty tiny compared to Saturn, who you won't recognize without her rings.
Hopefully we can paint tomorrow, but I have a feeling that our orbs may still be too wet for that. We could use balloons only for four of the planets because in relationship to each other, you just can't get balloons small enough for the other 5 (or is it 4?) planets. So, the girls just made little paper mache balls for the other planets. If I can muster the courage, I will try to figure out just how big the sun has to be in order to be scaled to our planets here. But, I have a sneaking suspicion that it requires some math, so it may never happen. I hear the girls have plans to hang this solar system from their bedroom ceiling.
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