Planet Tour
A free solar system game. Fly Kyle the crash test dummy to all 8 planets, study each one from orbit, then drop him in with and without his super suit to see what's really down there.
What students do
Kyle is a crash test dummy with a big smile and a bucket list: every planet in the solar system. Students pick any planet from the Where to? menu and blast off. Each planet has four boxes to check off, so the goal is clear from the start: 8 planets, 32 boxes. Explanation bubbles pop up along the way, and students close each one with a tap when they're done reading.
Two fact cards pause the flight to compare the real distance to light speed, the fastest spacecraft ever built, and real NASA missions, with a map drawn to scale.
Six cards cover each planet's color, smell, temperature, size (with Earth drawn next to it to scale), gravity, and one famous feature.
Kyle falls layer by layer with live depth, temperature, and pressure readouts until he lands, splashes down, or gets stuck in a giant planet's core.
A quick cartoon crash shows what each planet would do to a person: crushed, melted, frozen, or burned up. Then Kyle respawns.
The science
Planet Tour turns NASA data into a story students can follow. Every number on screen is real, and the side panel builds a Space Journal of their observations and a Planet Data table that unlocks one row per planet. By the end, students have the evidence to compare all eight planets side by side.
Two kinds of planets
The four inner planets are small and rocky with solid surfaces. The four outer planets are giants made mostly of gas and liquid, with no solid surface to stand on.
With the super suit, Kyle lands on Mercury, Venus, and Mars and splashes down in Earth's ocean. On Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune he just keeps sinking through thicker and hotter layers until he reaches the core. That difference sticks with students far better than a vocabulary list.
Gravity depends on mass and size
A planet's gravity at its surface depends on both its mass and its radius. Kyle weighs 170 lb on Earth, about 430 lb on Jupiter, and only about 64 lb on Mars.
The gravity card on each planet converts Kyle's weight, and the Planet Data table lists every planet's gravity in m/s². Saturn is a great puzzle: it is 95 times more massive than Earth, yet its gravity is only a little stronger, because its cloud tops are so far from its center.
The solar system is huge
Light from the Sun reaches Earth in about 8 minutes, but light would take about 4 hours to cross from Earth to Neptune.
Every trip shows the distance, how long light would take, and how long the trip would take at the fastest speed any spacecraft has reached (NASA's Parker Solar Probe, 692,000 km/h). The trip map is drawn to scale, so students see the four inner planets crowded near the Sun and the giants spread far apart.
NGSS alignment
Planet Tour supports the following Next Generation Science Standards for middle school Earth and space science. In California's integrated model, these standards are part of the 8th grade Space Systems unit. In discipline-specific courses, they are usually taught in 6th grade Earth science.
| Standard | What it says | How the game supports it |
|---|---|---|
| MS-ESS1-3 | Analyze and interpret data to determine scale properties of objects in the solar system. | Students collect data on each planet's size, distance, temperature, gravity, atmosphere layers, and surface features, then compare them in the Planet Data table. |
| MS-ESS1-2 | Develop and use a model to describe the role of gravity in the motions within galaxies and the solar system. | Gravity cards and falls show gravity pulling Kyle toward each planet, and the trip facts explain why a spacecraft has to slow down to stay at Mercury. |
| DCI ESS1.B | Earth and the Solar System | All 8 planets, plus the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. |
| Crosscutting concepts | Scale, Proportion, and Quantity; Patterns | Earth drawn to scale next to every planet, a to-scale distance map, and patterns in temperature and gravity across the solar system. |
| Science practice | SEP 4: Analyzing and Interpreting Data | The Planet Data table and discussion questions ask students to rank and compare planets using evidence. |
The game builds the data and the core ideas. To fully meet MS-ESS1-3, follow it with a task where students analyze the Planet Data table, such as ranking the planets by gravity or building a scale model of distances.
How to use it in class
Planet Tour works as a unit launch, a research day, or a review. Progress saves on the device, so it splits easily across two class periods.
- Launch (5 min). Ask: "Which planet would be the worst place to go skydiving, and why?" Collect predictions.
- Inner planets (20 min). Students check off all four boxes for Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.
- Giant planets (20 min). Students finish Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. This can be a second day.
- Submit (2 min). Students screenshot the trophy screen and turn it in through your learning platform.
- Debrief (5 to 10 min). Revisit the skydiving question using evidence from the Space Journal and the Planet Data table.
Discussion questions
- Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun. Why is Venus hotter?
- Saturn is 95 times more massive than Earth. Why would Kyle weigh only a little more there?
- Why couldn't Kyle land on Jupiter? What did he find instead?
- Light takes about 4 hours to travel from Earth to Neptune. What problems would that cause for someone controlling a spacecraft out there?
- Which planet would be the hardest for a human to visit? Use at least two pieces of evidence from your journal.
Key vocabulary
Solar system, planet, orbit, gravity, atmosphere, air pressure, rocky (terrestrial) planet, gas giant, ice giant, core, crater, asteroid belt, astronomical unit (AU), speed of light.
Frequently asked questions
Is Planet Tour free?
Yes. It is free to play in any web browser with no ads and no download.
Do students need to log in?
No. Students type their name and start playing. No accounts or student data are collected. Progress is saved in that device's browser, so students should finish on the same device and browser they started on.
How long does Planet Tour take?
Checking off all 32 boxes takes about 35 to 50 minutes. Many teachers split it into two shorter sessions: the four rocky planets one day and the four giant planets the next.
How do students show they finished?
When all 32 boxes on the bucket list are checked, a trophy screen appears with the student's name, their stats, the date and time, and an ID. Students take a screenshot and submit it.
Is the science accurate?
Planet facts come from NASA planetary fact sheets and real missions such as Galileo, Cassini, Juno, Perseverance, and Voyager 2. Values deep inside the giant planets are scientists' best model estimates, so the game marks them with a ~ symbol. Known moon counts are current as of 2026.
Is it okay for kids that Kyle gets crushed?
Kyle is a plastic crash test dummy, so the no-suit drops are cartoon crashes where he pops apart into plastic pieces. There is no blood or gore. Each one explains in plain language why that planet would be deadly for a person, and Kyle is rebuilt with one tap.