Hobbies And Interests
Make A Planet
Kidsastronomy.com is an educational gaming website geared toward helping teachers and parents create a fun and educational experience for children learning about planets and the solar system. The site hosts an interactive online game called "Make A Planet," in which kids can design their own planet. By clicking and dragging items with their mouse, children choose from six different styles and colors of planets and can add two different types of land areas, water, five types of trees, various weather conditions, buildings, people, space ships and volcanoes.
Be a Planet
"Be A Planet" is a classroom game that assists teachers in teaching the names, order and attributes of the planets by having students represent each planet of the solar system. Start by calling the first student to the front of the class to act as the sun and have her hold a flashlight to represent heat and light. To provide a subtle hint, choose a student whose name begins with the letter M to be the next planet—Mercury—and continue the progression of planets in a similar fashion. As more students join the group, have the entire class announce which planet each child represents and provide information corresponding to each planet using books and photos.
Solar System Word Search
Surfnetkids.com offers a variety of educational interactive games for children of all ages. Among them is a solar system word search game. Much like a traditional pen and paper word search game, children are given a list of 20 names of planets and scientific terms related to astrology and the solar system. By clicking the mouse and dragging the cursor over the letters, kids can highlight the words found in the search. There is no time limit to find the planets in the word search, but a timer is set with each game for kids to try to beat their previous scores.