Instant Expert Cheat Sheet – Space & The Planets

Picture this.  Your child asks you “Daddy, how many planets are there?”  You momentarily struggle, trying to remember if Pluto is still considered a planet so you decide to go to the trusty Internet to find out.  You easily find the answer (there are 8 planets and 5 dwarf planets…) but your son now wants to watch some videos on space, get some more information, colour some pictures and your next 2 hours are spent trying to separate the good stuff from the (pardon the expression) crap on Google.

Whew.  Well IncredibleDad.com is here once again to make your life easier and save you time.  Read on to see the first of (hopefully) many Instant Expert Cheat Sheets to come!

As a Busy Dad, here are the key things you need to know and have to satisfy your kids’ interest in Space!  If the information below is too basic for them, then they’re probably old enough to do their own research on Wikipedia and the Nasa website! 

General Information (that is appropriate for kids)

• KidsAstronomy – a cool site with an interactive solar system where you can click on the planet that interests you and get more information.
• ESA Kids – an interactive page from the European Space Agency, it also has a neat interactive picture with good information.

Cool Videos To Watch

Here is an amazing video that shows how small our planet really is compared to the Universe!

Here’s a great video showing all 8 planets and 5 dwarf planets in our solar system. A bit long but the video of the planets are stunning!

Colouring Pages

• UCAR - From the University of Michigan, a colouring book PDF of the planets with information on the sheets.
• Coloring Page – Some basic and some detailed colouring pages related to Space.
• Star Wars - Because you know you want to color something too! Sorry, no Princess Leia in the slave outfit though…

Other Items of Interest

• Nasa - No page about space is complete without a link to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration page!
• Space Camp – We introduced this movie to Book Boy (about some kids attending Space Camp at Nasa who actually go up into space) and Book Boy has been hooked on Space ever since!  Here’s the launch scene clip!

So there you go.  Now you’re ready to dazzle your kids with your brilliance instead of baffling them with your… never mind.

Please comment below as to what you thought of this Cheat Sheet, what else you want added and what other topics you’d like to see in the near future!

Thanks!

Image from Nasa

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