Toilet Paper Planet Activity

Over the last couple of weeks, my class has been studying the planets.  We read leveled readers on the Sun, Moon, and Planets.  Students created a flip book to compile their information (picture to be posted soon).  After discussing which planets were closest to the sun, we took a walk to the gym.  I gave pairs of students a card, a ball, and toilet paper.  The card had the name of the planet, the distance from the sun, and the amount of toilet paper squares that represented the distance from the sun.  The ball represented the size of the planet.  They were to count the number of toilet paper squares that were on their card.  Then they worked together to line their toilet paper up the closest to the sun to the furthest.  They placed the ball (or "planet") at the end of the length of toilet paper.