How to Make a Solar System Mobile

You want to make a Solar System Mobile but are not sure how? These are step by step instructions on how to construct a Solar System Mobile.

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Steps

1. 1
   Research the Solar System. If you want to use this for a school project, you cannot just turn in a Solar System mobile and barely know the names of the planets. Learn the planet's names, a little bit of background, the sun, and some information on other interesting or important "space objects" like comets, moons, and asteroid belts.
2. 2
   Collect the supplies needed. You should get about three ping pong balls, one cotton ball, two medium balls (the ping pongs are extra small for comparison), two large balls, and one huge ball. They should all be EXTREMELY lightweight.
3. 3
   Add detail to your planets.
   • The cotton ball is mercury so color one side a light brown and one black (the black side is the one not facing the sun).
   • One ping pong ball is Venus, so color one side a brownish yellowish color and one side black.
   • The second ping pong ball is earth, so color one side green and blue and the other black.
   • The third ping pong ball is Mars so of course color one side red and again the other side black.
   • One of the large balls is Jupiter, so color one side with the orange/red/white stripes and the Great Red Spot (make sure it is in the accurate spot) and the other black.
   • The other large ball is Saturn so color one side with the tan and white spots and color the other black. Stick in about three toothpicks and cut one of the cups so you have a few thin hoops of different sizes. Color the hoops different shades of brown and tan with some white. Stick the hoops on the end of the toothpick that is sticking out of your Saturn so it looks like the rings of Saturn that are so famous.
   • With the last two, Color each of them so they have one side black. Color the other size of one ball blue so it looks like Neptune. Color the other ball greenish blue.
4. 4
   Time to make some moons out of that model magic for your planets. Mercury and Venus do not have moons, so skip those. Earth, however, does.
   • Roll a small ball in your hand so it is about the size of a blueberry.
   • Mars has two moons but they are odd shaped. Take two pieces of model magic and make them potato shaped. They should be a bit smaller than a blueberry.
   • Jupiter has a TON of moons, so only make the four you think are most interesting. They should all be about the size of a blueberry.
   • Saturn also has a ton of moons, so again choose only about three or four that you think are most important. They, too should be about the size of a blueberry.
   • Like the other two gas giants, Neptune and Uranus have a lot of moons. Just make about three for each that are smaller than a blueberry.
    
   1. Stick a toothpick into each moon.
   2. Put a dot of glue on the end of the toothpick then stick it into the planet it belongs to. It does not matter where you stick it.
   3. Attach a Christmas ornament hook onto each planet.
5. 5
   Construct the mobile the planets will hang on.  
   1. Take a handful of skewers and tape them together.
   2. Take four groups of about five skewers.
   3. Tape each group of skewers together. You should have a giant group of skewers and four smaller groups of skewers.
   4. Stab the large group of skewers into the Styrofoam cup.
   5. Tape the center of each group of skewer to the top of the large group of skewers, the one NOT in the cup.
   6. Tie a piece of yarn about four inches long to each side of the skewer groups.
   7. Put the pieces of yarn in the places where the planets are in the solar system. (Mercury very close to the center, Uranus very far away.
   8. Tie the end of the yarn that is hanging to the Christmas tree ornament hook on each planet. All your planets should be hanging in their correct spot.
6. 6
   Add the sun! Take the huge ball and color it yellow. Simply stick in onto the giant group of skewers.
7. 7
   Type up a one or two page report of that information you collected in the beginning, then you are all done!

Tips

• Make sure everything is secure with tape and/or glue.

Warnings

• Be careful as it is fragile.

 Things You'll Need

• Lightweight spherical objects like ping pong balls for smaller planets and tennis balls for larger ones
• Markers
• Construction paper
• Yarn
• 2 Packages of bamboo skewers
• Heavy duty glue and/or clear tape
• 2 Styrofoam cups
• Toothpicks
• A bit of model magic
• 8 Christmas ornament hooks