Solar Plasma Collage

Explore the properties of the Sun’s plasma, including temperature and density, through art. Students have creative flexibility with this fun hands-on activity that uses colored craft paper. Students can choose colors to represent temperature variation inside the Sun, and show density with packed or thickly layered pieces, as well size, shape, color, and texture. Colors and textures are up to the students’ artistic interpretation of the Sun. Adapt the activity for different ages; for example, younger children can work together to create a collaborative collage; older children can outline the layers of the Sun, from the core to the corona, on the black construction paper using a pencil, white chalk, or a compass. As an applied math activity, they can also calculate and draw a scale model, based on the distances provided on the poster. Background knowledge about the Sun is provided by this NASA poster: Mind Melting Facts about the Sun, which can also be accessed at https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4668.