Free Printable Flashcards: Solar System Flashcards

When was the last time you recited the order of the planets of the solar system? I’ll wait…

It’s been a while, right? So when we started working on learning the solar system with Pooh recently, I had to do a little…ahem…refreshing myself on the topic.

Depending on the school of thought, some people are saying that Pluto no longer qualifies as a planet. I take great umbrage at this opinion. Pluto has been a loyal planet to us for the past 80 years. Breaking up with it now just seems….wrong. (Please tell me I’m not the only one who feels like this.)

So – for this edition of the 2nd Grade Blogging Team, I decided to add a new entry to our free printable flashcards series: printable solar system flashcards! I hope you love them!

Free Printable Flashcards: Solar System Flashcards

Instead of just making the flashcards, I wanted to show you a simple, hands-on activity you can use them to do. If you have active (read: ADHD) kids or if you just want to add a little spice to your lesson, try this to help kids learn the order of the planets!

You’ll need the printed flashcard set, some masking tape, nine strands of yarn, and a flat surface. As you can see, the flashcards include cards with each planet name and cards without.

Use masking tape to secure each end of each strand to the surface. Try to get the yarn into a rough arc shape. We’re going for planetary orbit lines.

Then, have the kids lay out the planet cards in the right order, starting with the sun and progressing outward. And yes, I included a card for Pluto, so there! 🙂

Pooh was having some trouble recalling the planet order, so we used the mnemonic device: My Very Eager Mother Just Served Us Nacho Pasta.

My – Mercury

Very – Venus

Eager – Earth

Mother – Mars

Just – Jupiter

Served – Saturn

Us – Uranus

Nacho – Neptune

Pasta – Pluto

It’s weird, but it works! Especially since I always seem to get Jupiter and Saturn backwards.

Naturally, we had to add the moon in there too. Be sure to remind kids that the sun and moon are NOT planets. I may have forgotten to make this distinction…lol.

All done! And in order, at that!

That’s the face of a kid who really thinks he’s accomplished something.

Once we finished labeling them all in order, we switched out the labeled cards for the blank ones and had Pooh recite them in order on his own. Once he remembered My Very Eager Mother Just Served Us Nacho Pasta, he was good.

This was definitely a fun way to learn about the planets of the solar system! If you’d like to get your own copy of our free printable solar system flashcards, click the image or the link below to visit our Store!

Free Printable Flashcards: Printable Solar System Flashcards – Look! We’re Learning! Store

For more posts featuring activities for learning about the solar system, check out the other posts from this week’s edition of the 2nd Grade Blogging Team!

Hands On Astronomy: Solar System in Playdough from Planet Smarty Pants

Blast-Off Number Line Math Practice from School Time Snippets

Solar System Matching Game from Life Over C’s

Outer Space Math Maze with ReGrouping from Sugar Aunts

Engineering Challenge: A Candy Solar System from Preschool Powol Packets

If you’d like even more homeschooling resources, be sure to follow my Homeschooling board on Pinterest!