All About the Moon Unit Study

My kids requested to learn about space this year, so we started with a unit study about our moon. In this post I share some fun facts about the moon and lots of activity ideas and resources so that you can easily put together your own moon unit to do with your kids. 

You can grab my 14 page All About the Moon Printable Pack to go along  with your unit study here: All About the Moon Printable Unit Study Pack.

Fun Facts About the Moon:

-The moon is roughly a quarter the size of the Earth and it is an average distance of 238,855 miles from Earth. (It's actual distance depends on where it is in it's orbit of our planet) 

-Scientists aren't sure how the moon formed. One popular theory is that it was formed from the debris expelled from the Earth after it was hit with a mars sized object. 

-The moon is our planet's only natural satellite. Some planets like Mercury and Venus don't have any. Jupiter has 79 (that we know of).

-The moon doesn't produce any light of it's own. it shines because it reflects the sun's light. 

-It takes the moon 27.3 days to complete an orbit around the Earth.

Learning About the Moon's Craters:

Have you ever wondered why some areas of the moon appear brighter than other areas, and some areas appear darker? 

Most of the brighter spots are impact craters. The moon's original crust was made of a very light colored rock that reflects the sun's light well. Meteor impacts cause the crust to break apart and pile up in ridges that we see as bright spots.

The darker areas (called seas or oceans because that's what Galileo thought they resembled) are basalt basins left behind by lava flows from ancient volcanic eruptions.

Here are a few resources and activities for learning about the moon's craters and how they were formed:

Videos and Websites

How Were the Moon's Craters and Maria Formed? from Mad Scientist

Why Does the Moon Have Craters from NASA's Space Place

Moon Crater Activity

The moon's craters were formed by asteroids or meteorites colliding with the moon's surface. You can simulate how this works at home with a few basic kitchen supplies. 

For this activity you need: white flour, cocoa powder, a baking sheet, and some pebbles or marbles of different sizes and weights. 

Cover a baking sheet or plate with a layer of white flour, then sift a thin layer of cocoa powder on top of the flour. Then try dropping marbles or pebbles from different heights and angles, to make craters on your pan. 

Experiment with using pebbles or marbles of different sizes and weights. Notice how the speed of the impact, the size and shape of the "asteroid", and the angle at which it hits the pan all make for different sized and shaped craters.

Phases of the Moon Activities:

If you pay attention to the moon you've probably noticed that it doesn't look the same from night to night. The moon goes through a monthly cycle, starting with a new moon, and appearing to slowly grow in size to a full moon, and then shrink back down to a new moon. The moon doesn't actually grow and shrink though, and the moon doesn't actually emit light either. The moon reflects the sun's light and appears to grow and shrink based on where the moon is in it's orbit around the Earth at a given point in time. The sun's light always illuminates one half of the moon (the half facing it). It's our view here on Earth that changes. Here are some fun activities and resources for learning more about the phases of the moon and how it all works

Videos

YouTube has lots of great videos for kids about the phases of the moon. Here are a couple of our favorites:

-Why Does The Moon Change from SciShow Kids

-Phases Of The Moon: Astronomy And Space For Kids from FreeSchool

Websites

Here are a few websites with good information about the moon's phases for kids:

-The Phases Of The Moon For Kids from Ducksters

-Phases Of The Moon (in order) from Kids Astronomy 

-The Phases Of The Moon from National Geographic Kids

Phases Of The Moon Oreo Activity

Oreos aren't something we usually eat around here, but I decided we could make an exception for a really fun learning activity.

For this activity you will need:
-Oreos
-A butter knife 
-A pen
-A piece of paper

Carefully twist enough Oreos apart so that you have 8 sides with the filling fully intact. Arrange them into a circle on your piece of paper. 

Starting at the bottom of the circle, use your butter knife to scrape all the filling off one cookie half. This will be your new moon. Label it with your pen.

Moving to the right, scrape most of the filling off the next cookie, leaving a thin crescent on the right hand side. Label it "waxing crescent". 

Scrape the entire left side of the frosting off the next cookie and label it "1st quarter".

Scrape just a small sliver off the left hand side of the next cookie and label it 'waxing gibbous".

The next cookie should sit at the top of your paper, opposite your new moon. Do not scrape any filling off this one and label it "full moon".

Now it's time to do the second half of the moons cycle. Scrape a small sliver of filling off the right hand side of the next cookie and label it "waning gibbous".

Scrape the entire right hand half of the filling off the next cookie and label it "3rd quarter".

Scrape most of the filling off the last cookie, leaving a thin crescent on the left side, and label it "waning crescent".

Now you should have a full diagram of the moon's phases made from Oreo cookies. After you take a little time to talk about them, enjoy your snack!

Phases of the Moon Sun Catcher

For this activity you will need: black construction paper, scissors, a pencil, a laminator sheet, a laminator, a hole punch, and some string.

Start by tracing 8 circles onto a couple sheets of black construction paper. These will be your moons, you can make them any size you want. We traced the top of a glass mason jar to make ours.

Use your pencil to make your circles into the 8 moon phases: new, waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, full, waning gibbous, last quarter, waning crescent. 

Cut out your moons and the parts of your moons that should be illuminated, leaving a thin edge, so that the circles stay intact. 

Lay them out inside a couple laminator sheets, and send them through the laminator. 

Cut them out again. Punch a hole in the top of each one, and thread some string through. Then hang them in order in a sunny window.

Additional Activities to Try and Resources To Check Out

-Look at the moon through binoculars or a telescope. See if you can locate any of the seas or impact craters.

-Grab a camera and try photographing the moon.

-Make moon art. We used white acrylic paints on black construction paper to make ours, but you could use colored pencils or oil pastels too.

-Foldable Phases of the Moon Activity from Technically Speaking With Amy

-Moon Phases Classroom Activity from NASA

-Moon 101 Video from National Geographic

-All About the Moon from NASA's Space Place

-Who Was Neil Armstrong? book by Roberta Edwards

And don't forget to grab a printable All About the Moon Pack here. The 14 page pack includes 3 informational reading sheets, a cut and paste moon phase activity, a moon map, a moon phase journal, a crossword puzzle, an art activity, and more!

If you enjoyed this post, check out:

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