Recreate the Phases of the Moon

Have you ever seen a full moon so big and bright that it lit up your bedroom at night? Or a moon that was just a sliver that you could barely spot in the sky?

The moon doesn’t really change its shape, and it doesn’t even make its own light. It reflects the light of the sun. The moon orbits (makes a circle) around the earth each month. As the moon moves around our planet, the sun lights up different parts of it. Phases of the moon are the different ways it looks from earth—like the big bright moon and the sliver in the sky we talked about earlier. The moon has eight main phases: new moon, waxing crescent moon, first quarter moon, waxing gibbous (GI-bis) moon, full moon, waning gibbous moon, last quarter moon, and waning crescent moon. Waxing means growing, so the moon appears to be getting bigger. Waning means shrinking, so the moon seems to get smaller. When the whole moon is facing the sun, it’s a full moon. But as the moon slowly circles the earth, it reflects less and less light until finally it’s hidden from view—the phase called new moon. Then the phases begin all over again.

Like the sun, moon, and stars praise their Creator (Psalm 148:13), so should we when we learn about the wonderful things he has made.

Hello there! I’m Buddy Davis, the host of Out and About on Answers TV. Let’s get our hands a little dirty as we investigate God’s amazing creation.

You can recreate the phases of the moon in your own living room!

Materials

• Lamp
• Foam ball
• Pen or Pencil
• Notebook and Pencil

Activity

1. Gently push a pencil or pen into the middle of the foam ball. This will be your moon.
2. Set the lamp on a table or a place where you can stand near it. This will be your sun.
3. Turn off all the lights in the room except for the lamp.
4. Standing a few feet away from the lamp, hold your moon by the pencil at arm’s length.
5. Slowly turn your whole body to the left and notice how the light and shadows change as you turn.
6. Ask an adult to help you find a picture of the moon's eight phases in a book or on a website. As you see the phases on your moon, sketch and label them in your notebook.