"We've Got Game" Yearly Theme Gets Underway With an Introduction of the Solar System

As I mentioned at early childhood parent night, my "We've Got Game" Physical Education theme for the year will include games from around the world.  Before I start introducing these games to children, however, I am doing a simple explanation (through games) of where we are in the universe.  We're starting with the Solar System and will move to Earth, continents, country, state, county, and finish with city.  My goal is for children to recognize that we are a small part of a bigger picture.

This week we are starting with the solar system and have done several games to help children learn about the planets and some of their characteristics.   We've talked about the rotation of the planets around the sun, the variance of temperature on each planet, and how different planets do or do not have moons.  With space being such an interesting subject to many students, I've been impressed with how much they already know.

Students watch a short video about the 8 different planets.  

The mnemonic "My Very Excited Mother Just Served Us Nachos" 

helps us remember the order of the planets in relationship to the sun.

We played a game where students had to identify either the name, characteristic, 
or a fact about a planet and move to it in a certain way.  Once there, they did an exercise.

This class performs Jumping Jacks at Venus.

This class points to the sun.  Each person is standing behind a cone 
that represents a planet in its correct order from the sun.  
There are large, medium, and small cones, depending upon the size of the planets.  
The children moved around the sun in various ways to discover which planets take the 
shortest and longest times to complete one orbit. Done correctly, they should finish in order.

Students follow their color cone in a circle to complete one orbit around the sun.
Students traveled in many different locomotor ways and changed planets often so 
they could experience the difference in time for each orbit.

 In our "Grab the Planet" game, students lined up across from each other and ran to grab their 
planet when the name, location to the sun, or special features about the planet was called out.

These students run to the ball that represents Uranus and will pick it up and run back to 
their home base with it.  They are trying to see who can return home with the planet first.

This student worked on tossing and catching an earth ball.


Click here for a few more pictures of our solar system activities.