How to Make a Model on the Solar System That Makes the Planets Orbit

Find an old record player that works. You might be able to find one at a garage sale, a thrift store or by looking on Internet sites such as Craigslist. If you can, remove the needle the grammaphone. All you need is the working turntable.

Drill a hole into the bottom of the wooden dowel so that you can fit it atop the center of the turntable. The hole should fit the protrusion where a record would normally be placed. Drill a hole through the largest styrofoam ball. This ball will represent the sun. Place it in the middle of the dowel. Put some glue on the inside of the ball so that once it is placed on the dowel it will stick.

Drill holes in the wooden dowel for all of the planets in the Solar System. Drill the holes just close enough together that wood won't crack and the holes don't overlap. The hole placements should also stagger so the planets are not parallel to one another. Thread the wooden sticks through the holes. The sticks should be of varying length. Play with the lengths on either side of the dowel so they can represent the distances of the planets from the sun as accurately as possible.

Drill holes into the styrofoam balls, but not all the way through. Brush some glue inside the holes, and install the styrofoam balls onto the sticks so that they follow the accurate order of the planets according to their distances from the sun.

Paint your styrofoam balls according to the colors you would like for the planets. Turn on your record player and watch the planets rotate.