Solar System Ornaments

 I've been thinking about the solar system lately, so when a friend posted a photo of Solar System Christmas ornaments on her Facebook page, I was intrigued. That would be so cool to have the planets on our Christmas tree! The only problem was that the blown glass ornaments cost $375. Ouch.

But how hard could it be to make our own? Christmas ornaments are usually in the same shape as planets, so all we would have to do is apply some paint. We found an assortment of ornaments, and although they aren't quite the right size, Jupiter is the largest and Mercury the smallest. (Sorry, Pluto, you got left out this time.)

 We found washable poster paint worked really well. Simple paper plates and paper towels helped with keeping things tidy.

We found an illustration of the planets and used that as our guide for how to paint them. having the hangar at the top of the ornament was a great help in keeping a little cleaner.

We let the planets dry on paper plates and applied some rings to Saturn (a stretch bracelet and hair band.)

Then we were all set: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Now we'll get to enjoy the planets both inside and outside our house! We may even try to line up the planets in order on the Christmas tree.

What's your favorite Christmas ornament?