Edible Solar System

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Home : 2003 : March : 19

Edible Solar System
By Melodee

I've used a lesson on making a solar system with different candies. It doesn't get the true size difference but does bring out some characteristics. You can either draw your orbits on black construction paper or a paper plate.
Sun- butterscotch, Mercury- orange jujube; Venus- Nestle's sno caps; Earth- blue Skittle; Mars- red Skittle; asteroid belt- candy sprinkles; Jupiter- peppermint with red hot stuck on top; Saturn- lemon drop with twizzler wrapped around; Uranus- green Jujube; Neptune- aqua Skittle; Pluto- tart n tiny. I changed some of the candies that I couldn't find and used some sweet tarts and

mini M&Ms.

You can also give each student a planet and let them guess how far they would be from the sun (I generally give where Pluto is so they have a confined area) then have them measure the correct amount. At http://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/solar_system/index.html is a converter that will make your solar system any size!