Jacob Vs. The Solar System

We've switched to using Apologia's Exploring Creation with Astronomy for science this semester.  Astronomy has always been fascinating to me, so I was eager to pass my enthusiasm for it on to Jacob....and we're both loving it so far.  

With a set of really powerful binoculars given to him for his birthday (thanks, Pappy Dan and Grammy Barb) and a telescope that Dan was able to get for next to nothing from a customer, we are set.  Our first project was to build a solar system, out of balloons.  We really wanted Jacob to be able to keep his solar system, though; knowing that balloons would deflate, we decided to go hunting for styrofoam balls to use instead.  Ever priced styrofoam balls?  Whew!!!  Expensive!  I tried Walmart, craft stores, even Dollar Tree.  Dollar Tree only had itty bitty ones, so we decided to buy the kit at Michael's for around $10.

We could have gotten the kit with fully painted planets inside, but what fun would that have been?  LOL  

We only had a couple mishaps, one which involved a wet, rolling planet across my kitchen floor, leaving a trail of yellow paint....but it's all good.

We took last week to work on our solar system in science....putting it together was actually quite fun.  I would have loved to use glow in the dark paint, but we didn't have any....it still turned out pretty cool!  Now if I can just figure out a way to mount it on Jacob's ceiling in his room.:)  

We love science projects!