Make a Solar System Out of Pumpkins

Now that Halloween is over you might be inclined to toss out your pumpkins. But pumpkins are a valid decoration all the way through Thanksgiving, and there are still learning activities you can do with pumpkins (even beyond the classic rotting experiment, which is a great thing to do with your carved pumpkins).

Teach Beside Me shares the idea of using a collection of pumpkins of different sizes to make your own model of the solar system.

This is a great one to do if you have space outside like a driveway or sidewalk where you can draw the orbits for the different planets. If you have a lot of space and want to get fancy you can calculate the relative distance between the planets and the sun and actually measure out a scale model of at least the inner planets (the distances get pretty huge pretty fast). I found a model using a 6-inch sphere for the sun and a building on the Tennessee Tech campus to measure the distances, or you can use the calculator at the Exploratorium to make a model based on the size of your sun. (Of course if you’re just doing it for fun you can alter these distances, for example doing 5.8 inches between the sun and Mercury instead of 5.8 meters as on the Tennessee model.)

Kids can paint and decorate the pumpkins to look more like the planets, and you can use larger pumpkins for larger planets and smaller ones for smaller planets, even if they don’t perfectly fit the model. You can use this time to talk about the characteristics of different planets, and how in your day Pluto was a planet. Draw in the asteroid belt, add the moon, or whatever else you like to make your model.

Check out all the details at Teach Beside Me, and if you’re looking for more pumpkin-themed STEM activities, check out the post here.

[Photo: Teach Beside Me]

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Human brains are pretty amazing, allowing us to think, feel, create, communicate, move and more. But humans aren’t the only animals with cool brains, as Crab Museum explains in the book The No-Brainer Brain Explainer (illustrated by Bruno Valasse).

This book, aimed at kids in grades 1-4, is colorful and silly but also educational about how brains actually work, with billions of neurons sending electrical and chemical signals around the body.

“Everything we think, feel and experience comes from an electrical relay race, with neurons passing chemical batons to each other,” the book says. “The constant chatter of billions of brain cells creates your entire world.”

The book compares the brains of mammals to those of crabs (the book is “written” by a crab after all) and notes that crabs have fewer neurons and of course are much smaller, but they have separate parts of their brains that control their eyes and their legs. Crabs are also capable of remembering things, using tools and solving puzzles.

Some animals’ brains allow them to know more about their world in different ways from humans, such as spiders being sensitive to vibrations in their webs and catfish having an amazing sense of taste, with taste sensors all over their bodies.

It notes that 95 percent of brain activity goes toward things we do unconsciously, like breathing, walking and catching a ball flying toward us. It also talks about dreams, memory, how our emotions try to predict the future, where brains came from and fun facts about brains. For example, did you know a sperm whale is believed to have the biggest brain of any creature that’s even lived? Their brains weigh 18 pounds, compared to just 2.5 pounds for humans.

Information on what creatures have the smallest brains, the toughest brains, the most brains and those who actually eat their own brains will delight kids (and maybe gross them out a little bit). They’ll also enjoy learning about the mycelium network of fungi, which is like a brain without a body, and slime molds, which are like a brain without a brain.

It ends talking about why human brains are so special because we’ve found ways to work together, communicate and build communities on a scale bigger than any other animal.

Kids and adults alike will enjoy this colorful, silly and informational book about brains!

About the book: 64 pages, hardcover. Published 2026 by Wide Eyed Editions. Suggested retail price $19.99.

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