Solar System Study

The kids are incredibly interested in outer space so we study it in many ways.  First we visit the planetarium at Mystic Seaport often.  (Treworgy Planetarium)  We even planned a field trip there late last year for our Southeastern CT Homeschoolers group and everyone enjoyed it.  The kids at this point can identify constellations and asterisms before the presenter even mentions them.  They love sitting outside at night and studying the stars and planets.  To further their love and interest in this we have put up a scale solar system on the ceiling.  Along with some not to scale constellations.  All the planets and stars glow in the dark so we have spent many a snowy evening just laying on our backs studying the glowing features of the night sky.  We even bought them a calendar for the school room that has glow in the dark constellations.  We also have a bin of space toys and books that they use all the time.

 This was how we got the constellations up on the ceiling.  It was a little nuts with both of us on stools taping papers together and to the ceiling.  But our hard work means that they are as accurate as can be :)

 This lovely calendar has a different contellation every month with a lot of great information.

This is poor Pluto alone in the kitchen.  In order to put the planets to scale Pluto didn't fit into the school room.

We are looking forward to studying more about the solar system and universe this year, going to more planetarium shows, studying images from the Hubble telescope, and watching all of Cosmos.  Any great book, show, or activity suggestions for studying the cosmos?