One common lab that teaches students how to grasp the distance between objects in the solar system is to have students reduce the distance between the sun and the planets to a small increment, such as millimeters or centimeters, keeping the original ratio intact. Students can then draw the location of each body in the solar system. Students will quickly see that the sun and Mercury are so close by its hard to draw them separately on such a small scale, but Neptune will be several feet away from the sun.
Students will observe the sky every night for one to two weeks, noting the time of sunrise and sunset, moonrise and moonset. Students will also note the rise and set of major constellations like Orion, the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper and note where they appear in the sky relative to landmarks such as buildings and trees. Students will draw a sketch of the moon's phase during this observation. At the end of the week, students will report the changing times and the changing locations of sunrise/sunset, moonrise/moonset and constellation rise/set changes, and they will draw conclusions about the direction and location of Earth relative to other bodies in the solar system during the week of their observation.
One of the most classic lab projects is simply to create a solar system out of Styrofoam balls, glue and string or prongs. Depending on the age and experience of the students, teachers can decide whether to stipulate additional challenges, such as conforming the model solar system to the correct distance-ratio between the sun and the planets, painting each planet the correct color and listing, on a separate board, what elements cause it to appear that color or building the model solar system on a pivoting point so that the planets can actually revolve around the sun.
Students will draw a sky wheel, depicting the constellations, and overlay it on a day/time wheel, listing the months of the year and the times of day. When they hold the sky wheel such that the horizon is at the bottom and they orient themselves so that "bottom" points to the same cardinal direction (north, south) that they're facing, they should be able to align the sky wheel with the day/time wheel in order to find constellations. If the students are old enough, have them use a compass to better orient the wheel or ask them to explain how this wheel would look different in another hemisphere.