Solar System and Planetary Motion Lab

Students tour planets, race orbits, track shadows, drop balls on other worlds and measure star brightness.

Grades 4–5Virtual lab · 5 stations1 student per deviceNo student loginsWorks offline

$8Buy Solar System and Planetary Motion Lab ▶ Play the free demo

Try it free: the demo opens the Start page and Station 1 right in your browser. No sign-up needed.

Virtual labs are sold separately and aren’t part of the All-Access licenses.

Screenshot of Solar System and Planetary Motion Lab

Grade level

Grades 4–5: Planet tour, orbit race, shadows, gravity and star brightness for Grades 4–5

What students practice

Planet sizes and distances, orbit time vs. distance, day and night, shadow length and direction, gravity on different worlds, star brightness and distance

Standards

NGSS: 5-ESS1-1 · 5-ESS1-2 · 5-PS2-1

How it works

Open the game file in any web browser: Chromebooks, laptops or your smartboard. No accounts, no student logins and no internet needed once it's downloaded.
Each student types their name on the Start page, then works through the stations in order. Each station has a prediction, a hands-on activity, a data table or log that fills in as they work and a check question.
Students finish with a printable lab report (print or save as PDF). The Teacher Notes include the standards, a full answer key and a reset button for shared devices.
Each purchase includes the lab file and a one-page Quick Start guide.