How to Show Kids the Phases of the Moon in Order

Teach the eight phases of the moon to children.

If you pay attention to the moon in the night sky, you will see how the shape of the moon seems to change as the days go by. The position of the moon, earth and sun determines the phases of the moon, which determines the moon's appearance. The lunar cycle consists of eight phases, which make up 29 1/2 days. Help students understand the lunar cycle by showing kids the phases of the moon as they occur in order.

Things You'll Need

• Spiral-bound notebooks

Instructions

1. Explain the physical placement of the sun, the earth and the moon. The earth is in the center, with the moon orbiting in a circle around the earth. The sun shines on the earth and the moon with the earth rotating and orbiting around the sun and the moon orbiting around the earth.

2. Mention the eight phases of the moon in order: new moon, waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, full moon, waning gibbous, third quarter and waning crescent. Make sure the students understand that "new moon" is when we cannot see the moon at all, first quarter is when we see the first half of the moon, full moon is when we see a fully round moon and third quarter is when we see the last half of the moon. The word waxing means "expanding" and waning means "decreasing." The word "crescent" means less than half and "gibbous" means more than half.

3. Encourage children to view the moon every night to keep track of the moon's progress through a lunar month. Visit Stardate.org to determine when a lunar month begins to enable you to plan student activities accordingly.

4. Ask the children to draw a picture of the moon every night, using a new page in a spiral-bound notebook, beginning on the first day of a lunar month. This means that the students would not see the moon on the first and second days of the lunar month, due to the new moon phase. The moon should start to become visible by the third day of the lunar month, at which point the students can begin to draw pictures of a crescent moon as it progresses toward "waxing crescent" and then through each of the other six stages.

Tips & Warnings

• If clouds prevent kids from viewing the moon, recommend that the students visit the Naval Observatory website. By entering a specific date into the online tool, you can view the phase of the moon on a particular date.

References

• Moon Connection: Moon Phases
• Stardate: Moon Phases

Resources

• Naval Observatory: Moon Phase Images