Marshmallows can be used to create a solar system model, suitable for preschoolers to help craft and play with. You will need both large and small white marshmallows to build the model. Coloring marshmallows adds to the allure of the model, and marshmallows can be dyed by placing a few drops of food coloring in to a plastic bag and shaking the marshmallows around to tint. Place a bowl full of yellow marshmallows in the center to represent the sun and build the solar system outward using more marshmallows. Secure multiple marshmallows to a Popsicle stick to create larger planets and use miniature marshmallows for smaller planets such as Uranus and Neptune. Craft wire or wooden dowel rods can be used to attach marshmallow planets to one another to form the spoke design.
Using food to create a solar system helps young children grasp the concept of spatial relations, and by using an assortment of sizes you can further help illustrate how the planets vary in size. The model solar system can have a watermelon or large cantaloupe as the Sun. Using decreasing sizes of fruits and nuts as you build the solar system out works well by using oranges, apples, pears, tangerines, kiwi fruit, grapes, walnuts and sunflower seeds. Building the fruit and nut solar system on the floor then allows you have kids eat the planets after the lesson is complete.
A solar system model is easily crafted by using Styrofoam balls and craft wire. You will need Styrofoam balls in nine different sizes. To get students involved, have them use paint or magic markers to color the Styrofoam balls before assembling the model. Have kids make the largest ball yellow or orange to represent the Sun, red for Mercury, green and white for Venus, blue and green for Earth, red and orange for Mars, blue and yellow for Jupiter, pink and red for Saturn, white or gray for Uranus, gray or black for Neptune and white for Pluto if you choose to include that planetoid in your model. Once the balls have dried, you can attach them with wire to form the solar system and suspend the model from the ceiling.
Preschoolers can create their own two-dimensional solar system models with poster board and paint or crayons. Give each child is given a black sheet of poster board and a set of crayons or markers. Using a large picture positioned at the front of the room or a picture book placed beside each child, have kids draw the solar system. Pay attention to the simple nature of the solar system and instruct kids to use circles to represent planets. Once they have done this, you can cut out each planet and sun, attach them to varying lengths of string and hang them above the desk of each student.