Remembering which order the planets come in can be difficult, so why not teach your class the following tricks? You could also ask the children to try to make up their own!
(all lists should be read downwards)
| Mercury | My | Many | My | Mother |
| Venus | Very | Very | Vicious | Veronica |
| Earth | Educated | Elderly | Earthworm | Enjoyed |
| Mars | Mother | Men | Might | My |
| Jupiter | Just | Just | Just | Jam |
| Saturn | Served | Snooze | Swallow | Sandwich |
| Uranus | Us | Under | Us | Under |
| Neptune | Nachos / Noodles | Newspapers | Now | Neptune |
| Contributed by: | Ahmet Kilinc | Rebecca Draper | Joel Schwartz | Annie and Becky |
The International Astronomical Union have voted to change the status of Pluto. The lists at the bottom of this page are therefore no longer correct. However, they are still valuable ways of remembering the order of the planets... just remember that Pluto is now classed as a "dwarf planet".
| |
| Mercury | Make | My | My | My | My |
| Venus | Very | Very | Very | Very | Very |
| Earth | Easy | Educated / Excellent | Eager | Easy | Easy |
| Mars | Mash | Mother | Mother | Method | Method |
| Jupiter | Just | Just | Just | Just | Just |
| Saturn | Squash | Served / Sent | Served / Sent | Speeds | Simply |
| Uranus | Up | Us | Us | Up | Uses |
| Neptune | New | Nine | Nine | Naming | Nine |
| Pluto | Potatoes | Pies | Pizzas | Planets | Planets |
| |
| Mercury | Mum's / My | My | Mother | Mary | My |
| Venus | Very | Very | Very | Very | Very |
| Earth | Early | Energetic | Easily | Easily | Energetic |
| Mars | Morning | Mate | Made | Makes | Mother |
| Jupiter | Jam | Just | Jane | Jam | Just |
| Saturn | Sandwiches | Swam | Stop | So | Swept |
| Uranus | Usually | Under | Using | You | Up |
| Neptune | Nauseate | North | Nail | Needn't | Nine |
| Pluto | People | Pier | Polish | Panic | Pins |
| |
| Mercury | My | My | My | My | Mrs |
| Venus | Very | Very | Very | Very | Van |
| Earth | Evil | Easy | Excited / Educated | Energetic | Eats |
| Mars | Mother's | Method | Mother | Mother | Mainly |
| Jupiter | Jokes | Just | Just | Just | Jam |
| Saturn | Sometimes | Shows | Showed | Spent | Strawberry |
| Uranus | Upsets | Us | Us | Under | Usually |
| Neptune | Nervous | Nine | Nine | Nine | Never |
| Pluto | People | Planets | Planets | Pounds | Plum |
| |
| Mercury | Many | My | Many | My | My |
| Venus | Vile | Very | Very | Very | Very |
| Earth | Earthlings | Expensive | Early | Early | Enormous |
| Mars | Make | Monkey | Mammals | Marrows | Monster |
| Jupiter | Jam | Jumps | Journeyed | Just | Just |
| Saturn | Sandwiches | Softly | South | Suited | Sucked |
| Uranus | Under | Under | Unto | Uncle | Up |
| Neptune | Newspaper | Neath | New | Ned | Nine |
| Pluto | Piles! | Pluto | Pastures | Perfectly | Planets |
Denise Dickens also gave the following useful advice:
If you get confused as to which M comes first remember, never put a Mars bar near the sun.
(It will melt!)
today!
Comments
Bella
26th January 2016
Thanks I can remember the planets now
Risha
15th February 2016
Thanks. It was very useful
Ian
24th July 2016
Was looking for a mnemonic to remember the order of the planets in our solar system and didn't particularly like any I found on-line so thought I might try to devise my own. Wanted something to represent space travel away from the sun across vast distances ending up at Pluto. OK... Pluto may not be a planet, but that's covered too :) Came up with:
My Voyager Endured Marathon Journey. Saw Unexpected New Planetoid
"Voyager" gives it the space-travel element; "Marathon" shares its first three letters with Mars to help get that in the right order and "Planetoid" reflects Pluto's new (and contested) status.
Louise
17th October 2016
Really helpful.
Chloe
19th September 2018
My very easy method just speeds up naming planets
sara s
29th September 2018
thanks a lot i can remember now the planets thanks a lot now i can show my student in class this website and they will know all of the planets thanks again
Mrinaal Singh
14th April 2021
Nice
Phil Clayton
28th November 2021
Makes them very easy to remember!