Submitted by Patty O., Arkansas
Idea posted February 22, 2005
We had a blast making Saturns with old CDs. I had saved up promo CDs and wanted to use them. So I bought little Styrofoam balls (1" - 2" diameter), cut them in half, and glued one on each side of the CD. This made the CD look like the rings of Saturn. We painted the rings on the CD with puff paints and hung them at an angle outside my door. It looked really cool with 100 Saturns hanging from the ceiling.
Also, I had given them each an envelope with the names of the Planets movements on separate strips of paper. As an assessment, I played the beginnings of each movement, and they put their strips in the order that I had played them.
I also used the video Voyage to the Planets, which features the music of the "Planets" set to NASA footage. It is synchronized with the music and is very good!