When it comes to craft projects about space, this solar system felt board craft is out of this world!
Creating a mini solar system model out of felt is a great way for preschool and elementary age kids to learn more about the solar system in a hands-on way. It doubles as art and science at the same time.
Felt boards are great because all the items are soft and (once all glue or paint is dry) all the components can be moved around and played with to create their own little galaxy.
You can even use our free template to add the planet names as well to have them match the name to the planet!
More Outer Space Activities:
Why Kids Love Solar System Crafts:
- Space is super exciting to kids (rocket ships! asteroids!), so helping them create all the planets helps foster interest in the solar system.
- This craft can be art time as well as a science lesson since you can talk about each planet and give a fun fact about them as you go through each one.
- You can make this solar system model smaller or scale it up using a bigger poster board for a large galaxy.
What You’ll Need to Make it:
- acrylic paint
- small paintbrushes
- fabric scissors (for an adult to use)
- felt sheets
- enough black felt by the yard (or fleece) to cover your size poster board
- small poster board
- school glue or low-temp glue gun (used with supervision)
- google eyes
- puff paint for mouths (optional)
- pipe cleaner for Saturn ring (optional)
- solar system template
What Colors Correspond With Each Planet?
While they may not be as bold and bright as your felt versions, there are colors that you can use to represent the hue of each planet (but feel free to use some creative license for fun):
Mercury: Grey
Venus: Brown and grey
Earth: Blue and green
Mars: Red, brown, and tan
Jupiter: Brown, orange, and tan
Saturn: Brown and blue grey
Uranus: Blue-green
Neptune: Blue
What’s the Order of the Planets From the Sun?
If you are trying to teach the planets in proper order, the order of the planets from the sun is Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
How to Make A Solar System Felt Board Craft:
- Print out your solar system download so you can cut out your planet sizes and trace them onto the color felt you want for each planet. I used one color for the sun flare and one for the circle of the sun on top of the flare color.
- Use fabric scissors to cut out each planet.
- Have your kiddo help you decorate each planet with acrylic paint, puffy paint, or glitter glue. When it comes to Earth’s green continent shapes, you can get very precise or just cut out random shapes to get the idea.
- Once that is dry, you can glue on google eyes and a puff paint, paint, or marker smile if you’d like.
- To make your sky board, trim a piece of black felt or fleece to the size of your poster board and glue it on with school glue or a low-temp hot glue gun. Now your planets have a sky to live in!
Tips for Making a Solar System Felt Board Craft:
- To identify the planets by sight, you can also cut out the planet names from the template and glue those onto the planets themselves or glue them onto their own small rectangle of black felt and have your kid match the names to the correct planets in order!
- Add some glitter felt stars to your felt board for extra sky detail.
- You can use felt for Saturn’s ring or you can glue a pipe cleaner around the back for a more 3D element.
Looking for more fun activities to do with kids? Check out our free printable games and coloring activities!
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Get the How-To
Supplies
- acrylic paint (in various colors)
- small paintbrushes
- felt sheets (or felt scraps)
- enough black felt by the yard (or fleece) to cover your size poster board
- 1 piece small poster board
- school glue or low-temp glue gun (used with supervision)
- 16 google eyes
- puff paint for mouths (optional)
- 1 pipe cleaner for Saturn ring (optional)
- 1 solar system template
Instructions
- Print out your solar system download so you can cut out your planet sizes and trace them onto the color felt you want for each planet (I used one color for the sun flare and one for the circle of the sun on top of the flare color).
- Use fabric scissors to cut out each planet.
- Have your kiddo help you decorate each planet with acrylic paint, puffy paint, or glitter glue.
- Once that is dry, you can glue on google eyes and a puff paint, paint, or marker smile if you’d like.
- To make your sky board, trim a piece of black felt or fleece to the size of your poster board and glue it on with school glue or a low-temp hot glue gun. Now your planets have a sky to live in!
Equipment
Notes
- To identify the planets by sight, you can also cut out the planet names from the template and glue those onto the planets themselves or glue them onto their own small rectangle of black felt and have your kid match the names to the correct planets in order!
- Add some glitter felt stars to your felt board for extra sky detail.
- You can use felt for Saturn’s ring or you can glue a pipe cleaner around the back for a more 3D element.
