My daughter has been interested in space and astronomy for as long as I can remember. Most kids are the same, I suppose, but I’m sure all the visits to the Air Force Museum, the Armstrong Museum and the Air & Space Museum have had a big impact. After seeing Roving Mars, I think it was apparent her affinity for the subject was more than a passing fancy as she recounted the way each rover operated, what its mission was and the names of each and all the related equipment. In light of this, I was interested to see how she’d take to the Solar System unit in 3rd grade science class.

She’s been fairly reserved about it all — probably because she doesn’t have much new to report. She had about two weeks to complete a model of the solar system plus a short “investigation” about her assigned planet: Venus. About a week of this was spent talking about what size each model planet would be, what colors they’d be and actually molding little (somewhat lumpy) balls out of papier-mâché . Instead of painting each a solid color, she insisted on incorporating some texture and swirls to recreate the look of Jupiter, the atmosphere of Venus, the polar ice caps of Mars. I didn’t even know there were polar ice caps on Mars. Of course I also didn’t know that the planet formerly known as Planet X is actually now known as Sedna. She was quick to let me in on that by noting that the BrainPOP Science Almanac “probably means Sedna” when they talk about Planet X. Ok then. Duh. I think, though, she was proudest of her detail on the miniature Earth she’d created… complete with blues, greens, browns and white wispy clouds.

She didn’t really need my help, except for some of the “installation” of the planets into the cardboard roller blade box that served as the universe itself. (Deep, I know…) On that note, all I can say is that a hot glue gun is invaluable and drinking straws are a must-have for any project.

The project came out really well … as you can see. (Note: a bonus feature of using a roller blade box is that the project was actually able to be folded in half in its own quasi-carrying case. Oh yeah.) But I think the best thing about it was being able to quietly observe just how much my little spacegirl really knows. She’s definitely a factoid junkie and while I’m not sure if she’ll end up being an astronaut someday (although she does love astronaut ice cream), there’s something oddly satisfying when your child is able to tell you things you don’t already know.

(Oh, and by the way … the title? Sadly, that was actually a phrase said in earnest over the weekend as she found some of the planets on the counter. Another parenting skill to master: stifling laughter when your kids would totally not think it was anything funny.)