The Planet Hop: A Solar System Story for Kids

Jupiter is the biggest planet, about 11 times wider than Earth. Hop from planet to planet on a pick-your-path tour of the solar system. For kids 3–7+, free to preview.

Choose a Narrator

Look out the window, space explorer! Out in the deep, dark sky, the planets glow like jewels — a red one, a blue one, a giant one wrapped in sparkly rings. Eight whole planets circle our Sun — that's our solar system! Let's go see them all!

But look — what's in our way? Space rocks! Millions of them, tumbling and spinning in a giant ring around the Sun. They're leftover bits that never quite became a planet. Hold on tight — we tip and we turn, swooping around every one. Whoosh!

Just past the rocks, our map lights up. Two planets are close enough to visit first! One glows warm and red. The other wears something sparkly all the way around. So, space explorer — where shall we go first?

Two planets are ahead! Which one should we visit?

What Is the Biggest Planet?

Jupiter is the biggest planet in our solar system: about 89,000 miles (143,000 km) across, roughly 11 times wider than Earth. If Earth were the size of a grape, Jupiter would be about as big as a basketball. It has no solid ground at all, just clouds and gas all the way down, and its Great Red Spot is a storm wider than our whole planet.

What Happens in the Story

In The Planet Hop, your child flies a little ship across the solar system, and chooses which planets to visit next. Four paths lead to four different endings:

Rusty-red Mars, then the biggest planet of all, where there's nowhere to land.
Rusty-red Mars, then a planet hiding under thick yellow clouds, where the Sun rises in a surprising place.
Saturn's sparkling rings, then the smallest planet, where one crater has a name you might know.
Saturn's sparkling rings, then two icy blue giants far, far away, one of them rolling on its side.

More Planet Facts

Mars is red because its dusty ground is full of rusty iron.
Saturn's rings are made of billions of chunks of ice, some as small as a grain of sand and some as big as a house.
A year on Mercury lasts just 88 Earth days, so you'd have a birthday about every three months.
Neptune is the windiest planet, with winds faster than 1,200 mph (2,000 km/h).

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the hottest planet?

Venus, even though Mercury is closer to the Sun. Venus is wrapped in thick clouds that trap the heat like a blanket, so its surface reaches about 870 °F (465 °C), hot enough to melt lead.

Would Saturn float in water?

In theory, yes. Saturn is mostly gas and is lighter than water for its size, so it would float in a bathtub big enough to hold it. No bathtub that big exists, of course!