Learning About Astronomy - the Moon

We have spent the last month or so learning about astronomy as our science topic. We have learnt about the planets, the Earth, stars and the moon. We go to a project group once a week where the children learn about these topics together with other children. They love this weekly group and have started to make some good friendships. We often continue learning about these topics at home and they form the basis of our science curriculum, giving it structure and focus.

We were not able to cover the moon during our project group sessions so we spent a week learning about it at home. 

Why are there craters on the Moon? Experiment

First, we learnt about why there are craters on the moon. I set up a plate of cloud dough on the tuff tray along with some stones. I got the idea from this blog post. To make cloud dough we mixed 8 cups of flour with 1 cup of oil. You can use any kind of oil such as baby oil, olive oil, sunflower oil etc. It lasts for ages so keep it in an airtight container and you can use it again and again.

Next I asked the children to drop the stones into the cloud dough.

When they removed the stones they could see that they had made holes in the cloud dough just like the craters on the surface of the moon.

They had a lot of fun exploring this activity. They experimented with dropping the stones from different heights and different speeds (dropping versus throwing).

K joined in too for some fun, sensory play.

We then made a leaflet about what we had learnt. I changed this slightly from the original blog post by using foil to make the moon instead of puffy paint. The children also used glitter to make some stars.

Phases of the Moon

Next we looked at the phases of the moon. I managed to find a few printables from Twinkl. The children enjoed putting together this moon phase spinner.

Then they filled in a worksheet about the phases of the Moon, also from Twinkl.

Oreo cookies Moon phases

Finally, we made the phases of the moon out of oreo cookies! This activity was a firm favourite which involved a lot of eating as well as learning!  

First, we removed the top half of the cookie to expose the white cream. Then we removed some of the cream to make the different phases of the moon.

The children made a poster on A3 white paper with the Earth in the middle, and arranged the oreo cookie moons around the outside.

Next, they drew the sun on one side and wrote in what each different phase of the moon is called.

                         

What activities have you done to learn about the moon?

Check out our other astronomy topics. We have learnt about the planets, the stars and the Earth.