How to Make a Pop Up Planet Book
Making a pop-up book is a handy way to study the planets of our solar system. Pop-up books are exciting visual tools to help kids learn about the planets for the first time in elementary school. There are eight planets and two dwarf planets in our solar system, so you will need to make a page about each one in your pop-up book. To make the pop-up book you will need construction paper for the pages of your book, card stock for the cover and brads for holding your book together.
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Things You'll Need
- Card stock
- Construction paper
- Brads
- Scissors
- Ruler
- Lid
- Book about the planets
- Pencil
- Colored pencils
- Markers
Instructions
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Fold 11 sheets of black construction paper in half to make pop-up pages for the sun, the eight planets and the two dwarf planets Pluto and Ceres. Include more pages in your pop-up book if you would like to include moons and asteroids in our solar system.
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2
Take a ruler and measure to make two slits along the horizontal fold line of each folded sheet of construction paper. These slits should be perfectly centered along the horizontal line and each slit will be located 3 inches inside from the right side and the left side of the paper. The slits that make the pop-up will be 2 inches in length above the horizontal line and 2 inches in length below the horizontal line, but both slits will be exactly 2 inches apart.
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3
Fold out the two slits you cut along the horizontal line to make the pop-up on your page. Do this for each of the 11 sheets of construction paper you have folded in half for the book. Put the pop-up book pages aside while you make the planets for the book.
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Refer to a book or a website about the solar system to draw pictures of the eight planets. Simply trace around a lid to make the shape for each planet on sheets of white construction paper and then use your references to draw the details on each planet. Cut the circles out of the paper to make the planets, but make sure to draw the rings around Saturn and Uranus before you draw these planets.
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Use your reference book and or reference websites when coloring the planets with markers or colored pencils.
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6
Type a short paragraph about the sun, each of the eight planets and the dwarf planets Ceres and Pluto. Print out the information and cut it down so it can fit on the bottom portion of a pop-up page below the planet it is describing. Write each paragraph on a small index card if you would rather do this by hand.
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7
Use a glue stick to affix each planet to the pop-up on each page. Glue the written information about the planet on the bottom half of the page under the pop-up planet. Follow the same procedure for gluing on the description about the sun and the dwarf planets you have included in your pop-up book.
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8
Take a heavy-duty sheet of white card stock and fold it in half to make the cover for the book. Decorate the cover with pictures of the sun and the planets and write a title such as "My Planet Pop-up Book."
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Insert all of the pop-up pages in sequential order inside the card stock cover and bind it together on both ends with brads, which are shaped like nails and made out of pliable metal. Make a hole through the card stock cover and the pages of the book with a brad and firmly secure both ends to the back cover of the book. Bind the book together with one brad at the top and one brad at the bottom of the book.
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Tips & Warnings
If you enjoyed making a planet pop-up book, you can also make one about other subjects such as countries and your favorite foods.
References
- Photo Credit Planets in the atmosphere Earth image by Photoeyes from Fotolia.com
