Poor Pluto

The children continue to be fascinated with Pluto, and this week we’ve been expanding our stories and theories about Pluto’s life as well as his demise. In a small group discussion Monday, children focused on Pluto’s birth and change in size over time. There were lots of ideas about why he shrank and is no longer a planet. He may have been battered by a storm. He may have eaten something bad. There may have been so many other planets that the solar system ran out of space and he was pushed out.

​Today Elle, Sam, and Rowan discussed their theories and the focus almost immediately turned to Pluto’s violent end…

“This is Pluto and these are steroids coming toward him and hitting him everywhere. This line is the path of the asteroid. They came from an asteroid belt. Asteroids and meteors are made of rock. They hit the Earth every day.” -Rowan

“The dots are all the asteroids going and hitting Pluto, then there’s fire on Pluto. Then there’s water spraying from earth. The asteroids are falling from the sun. He thought they were grapes so he ate them. He also ate gravity, and then he fell down and exploded. And he was dead.” -Elle

“Pluto’s burning up and the fireballs are surrounding him. The fireballs are coming from the red planet. His mouth and his eyes are burning up. Then the sun burned off his nose. Then he’s gone, but he can come back to life because he has super powers.” -Sam