The handbill "Solar system": a master class

The interest of children in the cosmos and in the structure of the solar system is no longer so widespread as it used to be. But to explain to your child the principles of the motion of planets around the stars are for every parent. The easiest way to do this is by using the "Solar System" craft. This model can be built with your own hands. Do it together with your baby to study the structure of the planets together and understand the basics of astronomy.

Hand-crafted "Planets of the Solar System" with their own hands

The simplest version of this model is using plasticine. The child himself can choose certain colors of this material and mix them to design this or that planet. Try to open with the children a star atlas and look at the real dimensions of celestial bodies, comparing them with the Sun. Explain the difference between the planets of the terrestrial group and the gas giants.

Explain to the children that the mapping of the solar system in the handicraft will be conditional. In fact, large and planets are very different from each other. Read about different types of cosmic bodies and discuss their main features. Pay attention to the child on Earth, find the pictures with its real form. Think together why our planet is not round, but more like an apple of the wrong shape and try to make it out of plasticine with the children. Balls can also be piled out of felt. But then you need to stock up the protection for your fingers so that the child is not injured when working with a sharp needle.

Crafting with foam balls

An odd job with the planets of the solar system can be designed in different ways: hang on a fishing line and attach to a hanger or place the workpieces on thin barbecue sticks, connecting them with a star in the center. The celestial bodies themselves are often made from foam blanks, because it is convenient to use and arrange this material. Foam plastic ball is light, it is easy to paint in any color, if you use acrylic, and the workpieces are easy to fasten together. The easiest way to do a handy "Solar System" in the form of a mobile phone.

Necessary materials:

• Foam balls of different sizes,
• Long piece of wire or thick wire,
• pencil,
• cardboard,
• PVA glue,
• Fishing line,
• hook,
• acrylic paints,
• brush,
• scissors.

The creation of the product can take several days, since the blanks need to be dried well after painting. Before you start, spread out all the foam balls in size: each of them must correspond to a certain planet. Make notes on the workpiece for the craft "Solar System" pencil, so as not to get confused, where is the heavenly body.

How to paint blanks

To paint blanks, use acrylic paints. The sun should be the largest. To create a "stains" effect on it, sprinkle the surface with red, orange and yellow paint. You can use a brush and mix several shades directly on the ball or pour the paint on a paper plate and dip the workpiece into it, threading it on the toothpick. Continue experimenting until you map all the planets. Make rings for Saturn from cardboard and paste them dried to the workpiece.

Another way to create planets

An even simpler way to make a craft "Solar system" is the use of papier-mache technique. For work you will need:

• Conventional balloons,
• Three-layer napkins,
• Paint and brush,
• Thread,
• needle,
• PVA glue.

Napkins should be divided into layers and finely chopped. The ball is to be inflated to the desired size and tied with threads to give a spherical shape, and then paste several layers of napkins, drying each of them before applying the next one. When the workpiece dries, pierce the rubber ball with a needle and remove it. You can make planets of threads in the same technique. To do this, you need a mulina or cotton yarn. Spread the balloon with glue and wrap the threads in a chaotic order, and then leave to dry, hanging on a clamp or clothespin. Remove the ball by punching it.

Assembling the product

When the colors dry, take a barbecue sticks or long needles to pierce the workpieces through and through. Thread the fishing line through the holes and secure it. Bend the thick wire into a spiral and tie the planets to it one by one, changing their height. Then cut four more pieces of fishing line and attach it so that all parts are balanced and hung straight. Connect the pieces and thread them into the hook or other fastener to hang the ready mobile under the ceiling. Made by own hands, the handmade "Solar system" is ready!

Balls can also be fastened to ordinary spokes or wire, connecting with the center, but then the product can not be hung. Sometimes instead of wire, use a conventional plastic or metal hanger, tying the fishing line with the planets to its lower part. Add to the heavenly bodies labels with names or various facts about them. If you use the luminous in the dark paint, then the mobile phone will become even more attractive to the child.