Saturn

Saxon got assigned to do a planet project for Kindergarten.

He picked Saturn.

He had to read a facts sheet on Saturn and then write a sentence about something that he learned about Saturn and a sentence about something that he likes about Saturn.  Then he had to draw a picture of Saturn.  He also had to create a 3D model of the planet Saturn.

So, we decided to paper-mache a planet.

When I was a kid, we used to make paper-mache, but we used liquid starch.

Since they don't make liquid starch, we had to use flour and water.

It was a HUGE mess.  You also have to let it dry in between layers to that it doesn't mold.

We cut up newspaper and started to wrap it around a balloon.

Then we set it out to dry.

The next morning, when the heater kicked on, the balloon expanded and broke through the layers of paper-mache.  Nate tried to poke a small hole in the balloon, just to let a little air out so we could fix the crack, but instead he popped the balloon.

So then we had to try to repair Saturn, with nothing holding it up from the inside.

It took a lot of layers, and over a week of paper-mache-ing all night to get it to work. 

Every day at dinner time we set it out to dry by the oven...

Finally it was ready to paint.

Saxon and I looked up pictures of Saturn online and painted it in swirls of yellow and red and orange.  He learned that Saturn is yellow because of all of the sulfur.

Then, Nate cut some rings out of foam board.

Saxon also learned that Saturn's rings look rainbow because they are made of lots of ice chunks, and so they reflect rainbow.  He copied the colors from the picture on the internet and painted the rings all by himself.

Then Nate attached the rings and we were ready to go.

Today the kids had a planet show and tell in class.

They were able to show off their planets and tell everyone what they learned.

It was a big project for a kindergartner but it was a lot of fun!